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COPWIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Patents and Inventions, 

HOW MADE K ^ K 

A VERITABLE SCHOOL OF SELF-INSl RUCTIOK IM - 

PATENTS AND INVENTIONS 

WITH QUESTIONS FOR SELF-EXAMINATION 

BY 

C. S. LABOFISH, 
ATTORNEY and COUNSELOR in PATENT CAUSES, 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Press of 
HAYWORTH PUBLISHING HOUSE 



29 4 f ^DES I^^C^NciL > 29 

Washington, D. C. 



^%% 






Copyright, 1903, 
By C. S. Labofish. 

All rights reseryed. 



PREFACE. 



Of all the rights, privileges and opportunities ot 
striving humanity for independent, honest and le- 
gitimate acquisition of v^ealth, the PiATENT is 
universally acknowledged to be the survival of the 
fittest, and justly so, for there is nothing m which 
the rich may not superior the poor except in the 
• natural endowments of the mind. Under our pres- 
ent social arrangement, the PATENT is, prac- 
tically, the only available means whereby any per- 
son of ordinary intelligence, whatever his station in 
life, may easily wrest himself from the very grasp 
of dependence, poverty and misery, and transpass 
into independence, comfort and luxury. The 
PATENT is a royal road to fame and fortune ; it is 
often a most effective remedy for breaking up a 
spell of hard luck, misfortune or adversity in busi- 
ness, and IS more frequently the emancipator of sub- 
ordination, oppression, drudgery or loathaome toil. 
These are undeniable facts: thev are of verv fre- 



quent occurrence in every state, town and hamlet. 

The gates are wide open, the work is entertain- 
ing, skill is easily acquired, the demand for inven- 
tions is unlimited, and the reward offered is most 
tempting. But the path over which the inventor 
must travel to reach the goal, like every other road 
to fame and fortune, is rough and rugged and beset 
with impediments, of which precious few of the 
aspirants and even veterans are aware. Hence, 
thousands of impromptuists and guileless stumble 
and go down intO' the depth of failure and disap- 
pointment. 

Years of incessant application, assiduous, deep 
and reflective meditation, and practical experience 
with patents and inventions, delving into the very 
root of the art, science and practice of patents and 
inventions, yearning for a ray of success, led 
the author of this work to the conclusion that 
success with patents is concurrent with the amount 
of knowledge of the underlying legal and commer- 
cial principles governing patents and inventions 
possessed by the inventor. An inventor having 
little or no knowledge of the spirit of our patent 
laws, depending entirely upon his patent attorney 
for the proper preparation and prosecution of his 
application before the Patent Office, does not gener- 
ally get the patent he is entitled to ; hence, a fail- 



ure. An inventor devoid of a thorough knowledge 
of the laws of patentability of invention and discov- 
ery is often the sole owner of a worthless patent; 
hence a dire failure. An inventor devoid of a prac- 
tical working knowledge of science and mechanics 
produces crude and impractical inventions; hence, 
a commercial failure. An inventor lacking in an 
understanding of the principles governing patents 
and inventions is readily attracted by the flaring 
advertisements of professional paten t-m a k e r s 
and becomes the sole ozvner of a guaranteed patent 
for the full term of seventeen years ; hence, a long, 
lasting and humiliating failure. 

A merchant or professional man buying a farm 
and employing a foreman tO' manage it for 
him, himself having no knowledge of farm- 
ing, is an absolute failure. A person under- 
taking any enterprise without a previous train- 
ing therefor, is a certain failure. Why should 
not an inventor ? He is to acquire and maintain a 
deed to a valuable piece of property that has no 
other existence but in law. Should not a knowledge 
of the spirit of the patent law be as much a part of 
his stock-in-trade as the knowledge of reducing an 
invention to a practical form, ? Ninety-five per cent, 
of merchants plunging into business without a 
previous training therefor meet with a disastrous 



end. Is it a wonder that thousands, or perhaps tens 
of thousands, of inventors never realize from their 
inventions even so much as to defray the cost of the 
patent ? 

Nothing but a thorough understanding of the 
leading underlying legal and commercial principles 
governing patents and inventions will insure suc- 
cess with patents. Having arrived at this conclu- 
sion, I found myself possessed of a burning de- 
sire to present to my brother inventors the means 
of acquiring such knowledge in the best and m'ost 
practical manner and within as short a time as 
possible. Accordingly I have, after a loug, serious, 
and profound investigation, years of practical ex- 
perience with patents and inventions and deep 
analytical study of patent law and patent procedure, 
prepared and published the present condensed and 
comprehensive volum.e, the aim and purpose of 
which is: 

1. To instruct in the leading underlying 
principles of the United States patent laws 
in patent causes; 

2, To instruct in the leading underlying 
leg-al, commercial and mechanical principles, 
and to furnish the most valuable truths in 
reference to the nature, object and value of 
a United States patent ; 



3- '^o convey to the minds of inquirers, 
information that will enable them to avoid 
the terrible disappointments and the enor- 
mous losses of time, money and energy to 
which the unwary are constantly exposed; 

4. To furnish clear and explicit practical 
instructions on how to acquire a practical 
working knowledge of science and mechan- 
ics, how to invent and what to invent ; also, 
clear, explicit and practical instructions on 
how to reduce an invention to a practical 
and patentable form, and how to protect an 

invention against possible compl?' cations; 

5. To furnish practical instructions, in- 
formation and advice in reference to the best, 
most economical and profitable method of 
disposing of patents, etc. 

In its detail arrangement it is a question-and- 
answer instruction book and is provided with a long 
list of questions for self-examination; a v^ri- 

TABI.I; SCHOOIv :^0R Stl.'^ INSTRUCTION IN PATENTS 
AND INVENTIONS AND IN PATENT PROCEDURE:. It 

explains in sim.ple languag'e, in a most natural style 
and peculiar system, important legal phraseology 
and presents a large range of topics indispensable to 
both experienced and inexperienced inventors and 
patentees, and lawyers, business men and mechanics 



that are, or may in any way become, interested in 
patents or inventions. Every important question of 
law is carefully interpreted and explained in a clear, 
concise and popular way so that readers of ordinary 
iritelligence may comprehend and utilize. The 
book further explains to the inventor and to the 
lawyer the relative bearings of the law on all classes 
of inventions and discoveries, and broadens his un- 
derstanding of the spirit of those laws. The mo- 
mentous subjects arc copiously illustrated therein 
by examples, and for the purpose of enabling the 
student to distinguish between a broad and a nar- 
row, a real and a false claim, models of claims are 
shown and explained in such a manner as to leave 
a lasting impression upon the student's mind. It 
further aims to impress upon the student's mind the 
important principles and essential requirements in 
the preparation of a specification and claims as well 
as the importance of exercising great care and ac- 
curacy in the execution of the work^ the lack of 
which resulted in the loss of countless valuable in- 
ventions to their inventors. It also embraces a 
volume of practical instruction, information and 
advice of inestimable value to every intelligent per- 
son whose financial condition may be bettered by 
the use of his or her mental powers. 

Thus, upon the knowledge which is freely and 



fully imparted by this comprehensive catechism de- 
pends not only the procuring of such a patent as 
would secure to the inventor the exclusive right to 
his invention, but the maintaining of such a right 
to the end of the term for which the patent is 
granted, as well as the intelligent production of 
commercially practical inventions and the success- 
ful attainment of the financial end of the patent 
This book should therefore be studied with due 
care and its contents riveted into the student's 
mind by means of the questions for self-examina- 
tion. 

Posing throughout the book, in the capacity of 
tutor, it becomes necessary for me, in order to ex- 
plain matters intelligently, to make frequent use of 
the personal pronoun and to address the reader as 
student in order to impress the subject upon his 
mind. This liberty it is hoped will, in view of the 
expediency, be overlooked. 

In the preparation of this work the "catecheticar' 
was deemed the most effective form, as by this 
means a comprehensive treatise embodying prac- 
tically the entire subject of PATENTS and IN- 
VENTIONS could be embraced within reasonable 
limits; also because this is the most rational way 
of intelligently answering a large number of im- 
portant questions without swelling the book and be- 



cause this simple method assures the absorption of 
a larger part of the subject-matter by the busy, the 
superficial and the disinclined student than would 
an attempt to sift the same knowledge from a large 
number of bulky text books. 

No attempt has been miade to introduce an 
extensive history of patents and- inventions, of no 
earthly use in the comprehension of the subject; or 
a list of dry and tasteless court decisions, or a 
code of laws and citations, to which the average 
reader would have no access. Nor was any attempt 
made to introduce anything that would be of no es- 
pecial benefit to the non-collegian but what is of 
benefit to the lawyer and laymen, professor and me- 
chanic, business man and farmer, that all may be 
benefited and benefit mankind — the sole aim of our 
patent laws. 

This is all the author attempted to accomplish, 
and how well this has been done will depend upon 
the good judgment of others. 

C. S. LABOFISH, 
Washington, D. C. 



QUESTIONS FOR SELF-EXAMINATION. 

After a thorough study of the entire book, an- 
swer mentally the following questions referring to 
the numerals for verification : 
Introductory. 

^ How was the inventive faculty of the hu 

man mind discovered? 
^ V/hat led up to the adoption of the PAT- 
ENT? 
^ Why is the patent the greatest reward? 
^ Does the patent stimulate inventors to 

action ? 
" Does the reward of the patent accomplish 

its purpose? 
^ Where and hov/ did the patent laws origi- 
nate ? 
^ Did we have patents granted before the 

adoption of the Constitution ? 
^ When was the patent system established in 

this country? 
^ When was the Patent Office reorganized? 
^^ What and when were other changes in the 
patent system made? . 



t^ LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

^^ What tends to show that our patent sys- 
tem came from the English statute? 

^^ In what respect does our patent system 
differ from others? 

^^ Define the policy of our patent laws . 

^^ State the reasons why we have adopted 
such policy. 

^^ Can our laws protect our inventions 
abroad ? 
Cate:chism. 

1 . ^ What is a patent ? 

^ What does the patent grant ? 
^ What if the inventor is unable to make or 
market his invention? 

2. ^ Why should the Government grant to the 

inventor such an exclusive right? 

^ When was the first patent act enacted ? 

^ What are the conditions of the contract be- 
tween the Government and the inventor ? 

3. ^ How does a patent differ from a monop- 

oly? 
^ How is the community benefited by the 
encouragement of genius? 

4. ^ How does the law secure the exclusive 

right of his invention to the inventor? 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. I3 

^ To what extent is infringement punisha- 
ble? 

^ How is a design patent infringed upon ? 

^What other act is within the purview of 
the patent law infringement ? 

^ What is the punishment for infringing 
upon a design patent? 

^ For whose benefit are the damages recov- 
ered ? 

^ What if the infringer was caught in the 
act before he made anything out of his 
infringement ? 

5. ^ Why do infringers invade upon the pat- 

entee's rights? 

^ What will curtail the numbers of infringe- 
ment suits ? 

^ What effect have poor patents upon 
inventors and patentees ? 

6. What is the judicial definition of the words 

^'invention or discovery?" 

7. What is the legal purport of the words ''any 

person" ? 

8. Of how many kinds is invention or discov- 

ery? 



i^ LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

9. What is the legal purport of the word 

^^an/7 

10. What is the legal purport of the word 

^^new" ? 

11. ^ What is the legal purport of the words 

**not known or used by others" ? 
- B)^ how many does the invention have to 
be know^n or used to render it unpatent- 
able? 

12. Does the knowledge of the invention in a 

foreign country bar a patent in the 
United States? 

13. Of two or more simultaneous inventors, 

which one of them is the first? 

T4. What is an abandoned experiment? 

15. How is an invention reduced to practice? 

t6. How useful must an invention be to be pat- 
entable ? 

1 7. ^ Define the legal term "art". 
-What is a process? 

"' Name the dififerent kinds of patents the 
United States Patent Office is issuing 
and for what inventions. 

[8. What is the legal purport of the word ''ma- 
chine" ? 



\ 
AND INVENTIONS™ HOW MADE 15 

19. What is the legal purport of the word '*maii- 

ufacture'' ? 

20. What is the legal purport of the words 

^'composition of matter' ? 

21. ^ What is the legal purport of the word "im.= 

provement'' ? 
^ What does the word ''improvement'' em- 
brace ? 

22. Does an improved machine have to be com- 

posed of parts different from those of 
the old machine? 

23. How can an inventor control the invention 

of a new art, principle, discovery, effect, 
function or motive power? 

24. What changes in the form of an article are 

patentable ? 

25. Why are curves or angles patentabler 

26. How is the assembling of two or more arti- 

cles into a unitary structure rendered 
patentable ? 

2y, How are airships or perpetual motion ma- 
chines patentable? 

28, - What is the legal purport of the v/ords 
"principle of a machine" ? 



i6 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

^ Why is a new principle for an old machine 
a good invention? 

^ Why should not the discovery of a new art, 
principle, process, effect or function be 
patentable ? 

^ How is the discovery of a new natural sub- 
stance patentable? 

^ Why is such not patentable ? 

^ Why are patents for old elements sustained 
by tffe Courts of Justice ? 

"^ Why are equivalents not patentable ? 

^ When is an invention that accomplishes no 
new and useful purpose patentable? 

^ When is the application of an old and well- 
known purpose patentable ? 

^^ Is embellishment patentable? 

29. Name the fundamental requirements of an 

application for a patent. 

30. How should an invention be shown and de- 

scribed ? 

31. State the reason why the law demands a 

concrete and illustrative application. 

32. How do defective specifications escape the 

examiner's notice? 

33. What is a claim? 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 17 

34. What is a patent established upon ? 

35. Name the different parts of a complete ap- 

plication for a patent. 

36. ^ What is the legal criterion for ambiguity 

in patent causes ? 
2 Why should the law restrict the inventor 

to such absolute accuracy? 
^ How full and clear should the specification 

be? 
^ What is the legal criterion for mechanical 

skill? 

^ Is it necessary to disclose the entire secret ? 
^ How should improvements be described ? 

37. In what instances does the Patent Office 

call for a model ? 

38. What are the drawings to a patent ? 

39. Why does the Patent Office require such 

artistic drawings? 

40. What is a patent attorney ? 

41. Who employs the patent attorney? 

42. Can the power of attorney be revoked? 

43. How is the power of attorney revoked? 

44. Who makes the patents? - 



i8 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS -^ 

45. ^ What assistance or advice does the Patent 

Office offer the inventor in the way of 
selecting a competent man ? 

^ Are there many incompetent patent attor- 
neys ? 

^ Why, does the law allow such attorneys to 
practice before the Patent Office? A. 
For the same reason that it does bogus 
doctors, professors, healers, curers, hyp- 
notizers, magnetizers and all sorts of 
fakes and fakers, who are slick enough 
to evade the criminal law, to impose up- 
on the people. 

46. What remedy has the inventor if the attor- 

ney turns out a defective patent? 

47. What is the administration of the Patent 

Office? 

48. How is an application examined ? 

49. What claims are generally rejected? 

50. Why should patents have broad and narrow 

claims ? 

51. Why strive to secure broad claims? 

52. How broad should claims be? 

53. Will the Patent Office allow very broad 

claims ? 



AND INVENTIONS^HOW MADE. 39 

54. What is a broad claim? 

55. Do claims rejected by the examiner remain 

rejected? 

56. What is meant by the words ''state of the 

art" ? 

57. How should claims be amended? 

58. Does the examiner cite new references at 

every action? 

59. How does an incompetent patent attorney 

amend a case? 

60. Why should not the Patent Office see to it 

that the attorney makes proper claims? 

61. Whose duty is it to look after the inventor's 

interest ? 

62. In matters of contention between the exam- 

iner and the attorney, who is entitled to 
the benefit of the doubt? 

63. What remedy does the law provide to settle 

differences of opinion in the office? 

64. What is a combination claim? 

65. Do the elements of the old structure become 

the patentee's invention? 

66. Of what importance is a combination claim? 



20 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

67. To what extent is the patentee benefited by 

embodiying the elements of the old arti- 
cle? 

68. Does the Patent Office issue patents upon 

unexpired patents? 

69. Does an improver on a patented machine 

acquire a right in the patented machine ? 

70. Is it feasible to improve upon a patented 

article ? 

71. What is a generic claim? 

72. Is it necessary to express equivalents? 

J"^, Why should the invention described in the 
specification be repeated in the claims ? 

74. Does it ever happen that an attorney claims 

more than his client is justly entitled to? 

75. Can the inventor hold such claims ? 

76. When should disclaimer be made? 
"jj. What is an infringement? 

78. Where should action against an infringer 

be brought? 

79. How is a patent infringed upon? 

80. What is an interference? 

81. What are the proceedings in interference 

cases ? 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 2t 

82. Upon which of these parties does the burden 

of proof rest? 

83. What is an abandoned application? 

84. Can an abandoned appHcation be renewed? 

85. What is a forfeited appHcation? 

86. Can a forfeited application be renewed? 

87. Does an application for renewal require a 

new specification? 

88. In what instances would an inventor file a 

declaration of abandonment of his pend- 
ing application ? 

89. Is inventing a profitable occupation ? 

90. What makes small and simple inventions 

profitable ? 

91. Why take a simple invention for an exam- 

ple? 

92. How is a two-cent royalty invention profita- 

ble? 

93. Does every inventor make such an immense 

fortune out of a simple idea? 

94. Why do they not ? 

95. What should the pan-handle inventor have 

done? 

96. How broad should the claims for the pan- 

handle have been made ? 



22 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

97. How should the pan-handle claims have 

been worded, commensurate with the in- 
ventor's conception of a cool pan- 
handle? 

98. What do these claims -eecure to the in- 

ventor ? 

99. Does every invention have a future possibil- 

ity and several phases ? 

100. How can future possibilities of an invention 

be provided for ? 

1 01. Can two or more persons make an inven- 

tion ? 

102. Can two or more independent inventors join 

in one patent ? 

103. If one furnishes the money for the patent, 

can he join the inventor in the patent ? 

104. What are the prescribed conditions ? 

105. What is an assignment? 

106. What is a State, shop, or county license? 

107. What is a reissued patent? 

108. What is a design patent? 

109. What is a caveat ? 

1 10. Who may file a caveat ? 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 23 



INTRODUCTORY. 

^ ^ The innumerable inventions and discoveries 
since the discovery of the tree of knowledge in the 
Garden of Eden, particularly the wonderful arts 
of the ancients, the sciences of geology and mathe- 
matics, the discovery of the telescope, and the gal- 
vanic circuit, gave unmistakable evidence of the 
existence of a poAverful inventive faculty in the 
human mind. But, no appreciable attempt has been 
m.ade to explore this faculty until- the innovation of 
the art of printing from movable type. When 
literature became more abundant and reached the 
masses, then men began to think for themselves, 
and crave for more knowledge, art and science, and 
clamor for the exploitation of that wonderful facul- 
ty whence it comes. ^To exploit the great possi- 
bilities of the human mind, in order to promote the 
progress of science and the useful arts, som-e suit- 
able reward commensurate with the scope of every 
achievement had to be devised. This led to the 

* Numerals refer to the questions for self-examination. 



24 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

adoption of the ''paTe:nt/' which is now universal- 
ly acknowledged to be the highest reward possible 
concurrent with every invention. 

^ The incentive afforded by the patent appeals 
to two of the most widely-felt springs of human 
action^ — the love of reward and the pride of posses- 
sion. Indeed, nothing else would have accomplished 
so well the desired result as that of the patent. 
The love of reward is active, is instinctively felt, 
and is constantly present in the human breast. The 
instinctive love of ownership is active not only 
in the man, but in the breast of every beast 
or bird; in fact, of every living being. A 
man will take the most desperate chances to repos- 
sess himself of dispossessed property ; he is always 
ready to protect his property with his life, and 
w^atches over his possessions more ardently than 
over anything else dear to him. It is thus easily 
understood how the patent, which satisfied these 
human instincts, is the most powerful incentive to 
the exercise of man's inventive genius. ^ Through- 
out all civilized countries, inventors labor con- 
stantly and zealously in view of the reward which 
they hope to reap through the ownership of their 
inventions, vested in them by the grant of the pat- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 25 

ent, ^ and as a consequence science and art are strid- 
ing with wonderful rapidity, their attainments are 
beyond all expectation, and their future most prom- 
ising. 

THl^: ORIGIN O]^ TH^ PATe:nT I.AW. 

^ The origin of the patent law is generally sup- 
posed to be the EngUsh statute of James I. (1623), 
wdiich in terms destroyed all monopolies, but al- 
lowed the crown to grant to inventors patents for 
their new inventions and new processes of manu- 
facture. This is considered the origin of the pat- 
ent law, because up to that time the obtaining of 
a patent had not been a matter of right, but a mere 
matter of grace on the part of the crown. By the 
statute of James L, the law stepped in and regu- 
lated the matter. It gave the inventor the right to 
obtain a patent, and thus converted the system from 
a mere arbitrary reward for past merit to a prom- 
ise of protection, and this promise was held out to 
inventors only. Thus the laws of monopolies were 
changed to an incentive to obtain the reward for 
the invention or discovery of something beneficial 
to the community. That statute of James I. did 



26 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

not declare, and no English statute has since de- 
clared, in terms the absolute right of the inventor 
to have a patent, as ours does. In language the 
statute leaves it, at least until recently, as a grace 
from the crown; but, according to the English 
theory of government, the regulation of the right 
by Parliament practically requires the sovereign 
to grant the patent when the inventor has complied 
with the necessary formalities. 

^ In this country the English patent system was 
known before the adoption of the Constitution, and 
the different States had repeatedly and to a consid-. 
erable extent granted patents for inventions. This 
practice of the various states was mentioned and 
a number of illustrations of it is given in certain 
Patent Office Reports; it was referred to also in 
one of our earliest statutes, in which Congress 
enacted that no one should have the benefit of that 
patent law unless he first surrendered the patent 
which he obtained under the state authority. 

^ The patent system in this country was practi- 
cally established in 1787, but not until April 10, 
1790, did Congress enact the first patent act, enti- 
tled : ''An act to promote the progress of the use- 
ful arts." This act was amended in 1793, and 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 27 

again in 1800, and, with som>e minor amendments 
of detail, which did not essentially change its char- 
acter, it remained until 1836. ^ At that time the 
Patent Office building wtih all its contents was de- 
stro3^ed by fire, and that disaster led tO' the revi- 
sion of the existing statutory system and the reor- 
ganization of the Patent Office. The act of 1836 
created the present Patent Office and put a Com- 
missioner of Patents at the head of it, charging 
him with the duty of examining all applications 
for patents in order to ascertain their novelty and 
utility. Previous to that the Secretary of State 
and the xAttorney-General were examining inven- 
tions and determined whether they were patented 
or not. Under the act of 1790, a patent was made 
prima facie evidence; that act was repealed by the 
act of 1793,, and thot provision was not reenacted 
in it. Hence, a patent was not received in courts* 
of justice as even prima facie evidence that the 
invention patented was new and useful, but the 
plaintiff was bound to prove these facts in order 
to make out his case. But the act of 1836 intro- 
duced a new system, and under its inquisition and 
examination a patent was received as prima facie 
e^ idence of the truth of the facts stated therein. 



28 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

The patent system established in 1836 has ex- 
isted in this country ever since, and it does not 
exist, to any practical and useful extent, in any 
other country. -^^ In i860 the term of the patent 
was changed from fourteen years to seventeen 
years, and the power of the Commissioner to grant 
an extension for seven years was taken away. The 
laws were again revised in 1870, but with those 
exceptions they have continued substantially as be- 
fore, with the exception of the proceedings in the 
Patent Office, which have been and are quite fre- 
quently changed in some particulars. ^^ The fact 
that our patent laws originally granted patents for 
the term of fourteen years, is pretty conclusive 
proof that our patent system came from the Eng- 
lish statute; for the statute of James I. provides 
fourteen years as the life of a patent, and under or 
subsequent to that statute the practice grew up of 
extending our patents for seven years more. From 
the fact that the term for which the patent existed 
by our first law was fourteen years, it is obvious 
that our law makers had before them, and had in 
mind, the English patent system. 

Patents are now a universal custom with enlight- 
ened communities ; however, the difference between 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 29 

our laws and those of other countries is marked 
and distinct. -^^ The great distinguishing- feature 
of the patent system of this country, as previously 
stated, is, that it requires all applications for pat- 
ents to be subjected to a preliminary examination, 
as to originality and novelty of invention, before 
a patent can issue. It further forbids the issue of 
a patent to anyone who is not the first as well as 
the original inventor of the thing sought to be pat- 
ented. Though the practical operation of such a 
system is necessarily attended with difficulties, it 
can scarcely be questioned that it is highly useful. 
In bringing to the inventor's notice what is already 
known in the art to which his invention appertains, 
many annoying complications are avoided/ 

In England and in most other countries, patents 
were considered by the courts as monopolies, odi- 
ous in the eye of the law, and were construed 
strictly. In this country, however, it has been uni- 
formly held that the design of our patent laws was 
to encourage genius in advancing the arts, by pro- 
tecting their productions, and that such laws were 



30 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

to be construed favorably because they are bene- 
ficial to the community, and that patents were 
rewards to ingenious persons for the advantages 
derived by the public from their exertions. 

THi: POLICY 01^ OUR PATIvNT LAWS. 

Many of the provisions of our patent acts are, 
as stated, derived from the principles and practice 
which have prevailed in England. And though 
the known and settled construction of the English 
statute of Monopolies, by their courts of law, has 
not been received by our courts w^ith all the weight 
of authority, yet the construction of that statute 
by the English courts, and tlie principles and prac- 
tices which have regulated the grants of the Eng- 
lish patents, afford material to illustrate our stat- 
ute. ^^ I'he settled purpose of the United States 
has ever been to confer to tlic inventors of useful 
inventions an exclusive right to their inventions 
for the time mentioned in their patent. It is the 
reward stipulated for the advantages derived by 
tlie public from the exertions of the individuals, and 
is intended as a stimulus to those exertions. The 
great object and intention of the patent act is. how- 
ever, to secure to the public the advantages derived 



AND INVENTIONS—HOW MADE. 3C 

from the individual discoveries, and the means it 
emploA'S are the compensation for the time and 
labor devoted to these discoveries, by the exclusive 
right to make, use and sell the thing discovered, 
for a limited time. 

^^ The Constitution of the United States, in giv- 
ing authority to Congress to grant patents for a 
limited period, declares the object to be to promote 
the progress of science and the useful arts ; an ob- 
ject as truly national and meritorious and well 
founded in public policy as any that can be within 
the scope of national protection. Hence, it has 
always been the course of the American courts— 
and latterly of the English— to construe patents 
fairly and liberally, and not subject them to over- 
nice and critical refinements. The patent law gives 
to inventors a monopoly, but not in an odious sense. 
It takes nothing from the community at large, but 
secures to them the greatest benefits. To secure 
to inventors the remuneration for their time, inge- 
nuity and expense, a liberal construction should 
Ixi given to the law. The patent laws are not 
made to encourage monopolies of what before be- 
longed to others, or to the public — which is the 
true idea of a monopoly — but the design to encour- 



32 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

age genius in advancing the arts through science 
and ingenuity, by protecting its productions of 
what did not before exist and of what never be- 
longed to another person, or the pubhc. The pat- 
ent acts have been passed for the promotion of the 
useful arts — for the ultimate benefit of the public, 
and not for the sole benefit of inventors and pat- 
entees. It is for the ultimate benefit of the public 
that privileges are granted to inventors and allowed 
to operate, and are protected for limited times for 
their direct benefits. 

^^ The power granted by the patent laws is do- 
mestic in its character, and necessarily confined 
wathin the limits of the United States. The pat- 
erits do not and were not intended to operate beyond 
the limits of the United States and the patentee's 
right of property and its exclusive use can not 
extend beyond the limits to which the law is 
confined. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 33 



PART I. 

1. Q. What is a patent? 

A. ^ A patent, for an invention," is a Govern- 
ment grant to the inventor, securing to him and 
to his heirs, for a term of seventeen years, ^ the 
exclusive privileg'e of making, using or vending 
his invention throughout the United States and the 
territories thereof; ^ or of authorizing others to 
make, use or vend any new and useful art, machine, 
manufacture or composition of matter, or any new 
and useful improvement thereof, of his invention. 

2. Q. Why should the Government grant the 
inventor such an exclusive right? 

A. The PATENT is the result of a certain bar- 
gain between the Government of the United States 
and the inventor, and is founded on the following 
business transaction : 

^ In 1787, the framers of the Constitution of the 
United States embodied in the Constitution the 
following clause: Art. i, Sec. 8: ''The Congress 
shaM have the power to- promote the progress of 
science and the useful arts by se^curing for 



34 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OP PATENTS 

ijMiTKD TiMKS to authors! and iiwentorsi the ^xci.u- 
sivK right to their respective writings and discov- 
eries." Every person has a natural, legal and moral 
right to his own writing^s and discoveries for an 
unlimited time, but what would prevent one from 
invading on an author's or an inventor's right? 
Here the Constitution held out an offer of protection 
""by securing'" in consideration of the ''limiTKd 
Time:/' This clause in the Constitution is strictly 
a business proposition, and the patent is thus a 
bilateral contract between the Government and 
the inventor, pure and simple. 

^ In 1 790, at the first session. Congress promlul- 
gated the first patent act, entitled ''An act to pro- 
mote the progress of the useful arts," in which it 
laid down the terms and conditions of the contract 
the Government is willing to make with the in- 
ventor for the purpose of promoting the useful arts. 
The terms and conditions of that act are, in sub- 
stance, as follows': ^ If you, Mr. Inventor, will de- 
scribe the details of your invention, which you say 
is something that has never before existed, ''clearly, 
truly and fully," I, the Government of the United 
States, will "thereupon" see to it that noi other per- 
son shall, for a limited time, make, use or sell a 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 35 

machine like yours. The benefit of this business 
transaction is mutual; the Government is thereb)^ 
benefited to the extent of promoting- the useful arts, 
and by the latter free use of the invention by the 
public, and the inventor to the extent of having 
absolute control of the market for his machine 
for a limited timic. Having no competition, he is 
able to command a good price for his machine or 
thing patented. 

3. Q. Is not that exclusive right conferred b)' 
the patent a monopoly ? 

A. No; not in the true sense of the word, 
though our modern patent system grew out of the 
ancient system of monopolies. A patent is entirely 
different in its nature and effect from a monopoly. 
The granting of m.onopolies, or exclusive privileges 
of selling certain articles of commerce, originated 
in the infancy of European commerce when a en- 
tures were attended with great risk of both life and 
capital. Tlie seas in those days were swarming 
with pirates, and the land wnth robbers; the exclu- 
sive privilge of vending such articles w^ere granted 
to those persons who braved, or were supposed to 
have braved, such dangers, ^exclusive of those who 
might have obtained such articles in' like or different 



36 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

manner. The exclusive privilege granted to the 
in\^entor by the patent, as shown, was awarded by 
the Constitution of the United States for the pur- 
pose of encouragement of arts and science, and not 
as a restriction upon the rights of the community, 
since the invention has never belonged to it. 

The encouragement thus tendered to our invent- 
ors by the foregoing Constitutional provision and 
act of Congress had a remarkably stimulating 
effect upon our people. ^ Our inventors have made 
us the most envied nation on earth. ^^Yankee in- 
genuity'' is now proverbial throughout the world; 
its products envelop the globe; its blessings are 
felt by every beating heart. Inventions reduced the 
hours of drudgery to one-half, and more time for 
thought, reflection and recreation is thus afforded. 

4. O. How does the law secure to- the inventor 
that exclusive right to make, use and vend his in- 
A^ention, conferred by the patent? 

A. For the purpose of securing to the inventor 
the exclusive right to his invention, conferred by 
the patent, -^ Congress enacted certain laws which 
provide for the punishment of the infringer and for 
the recompense of the patentee. The law^ prescribes 
that damages for the infringement of any patent 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 37 

may be recovered by action on the case in the name 
of the party interested either as patentee, assignee, 
or grantee. And that whenever in any such action 
a verdict is rendered for the plaintiff, the court may 
enter judgment thereon for any sum above the 
amount found by the verdict as the actual damages 
sustained, according to the circumstances of the 
case, ^ not exceeding three times the amount of such 
verdict, together with the costs. Thus, if the in- 
fringer has not made anything of the infraction, 
but by making or using the patented article he 
caused the patentee to suffer loss to the extent of 
$i,ooo, the infringer must pay to the patentee 
$3,000 and the cost of the suit for the infraction 
brought against him. This is a very effective remi- 
edy; for no sane person would imitate a patented 
article in view of such a law and subject himself to 
such severe punishment as is sure to be his lot if he 
is sued by the patentee. 

In case of a desig*n patent, the law prescribes that 
during the term of Letters Patent for a design it 
is unlawful for any person other than the owner 
of said Letters Patent, without the Hcense of such 
owner, ^ to apply the design secured by such patent^ 
or any colorable imitation thereof, to any article of 



38 LABOFrSH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

manufactuTe for the purpose of sale, or to sell 
"^ or expose for sale any article of manufacture to 
which the desig-n or colorable imitation has, without 
the license of the owner, been applied, knowing that 
the same has been so applied. And that any person 
violating the provisions, or either of them, of that 
section of the law, is liable in the amount of ^ tzvo 
hundred and Hfty dollars; and in case the total 
profit made by him from the manufacture or sale, 
as aforesaid, of the article or articles to which the 
design, or colorable imitation thereof, has been 
applied, exceeds the sum of two hundred and fifty 
dollars, he is further liable for the excess of such 
profit over and above the sum of two hundred and 
fifty dollars ; and the full amount of such liability 
may be recovered by the owner of the Letters Pat- 
ent, ^ to his ozvn use^ im any circuit court of the 
United States having jurisdiction of the parties, 
either by action at law or upon a bill in equity or an 
injunction to restrain such infringement; and that 
n.othing in this act should prevent, lessen, impeach, 
or avoid any remedy at law or in equity which any 
owner of Letters Patent for a design, aggrieved 
by the infringement of the same, might have had if 
such act liad not been passed ; but such owner shall 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 39 

not twice recover the profit made from the inf rirrge- 
ment. Thus, the infrimger, or imitator, oi a design 
patent has to pay the patentee the sum of $250 even 
if he has '^ liever made a dollar out of his imitation. 
These laws are very effective and the patentee's 
rights are perfectly protected by law. 

5. Q. But we do hear of infringement suits 
most every day; and almost every patent that is 
issued is inifringed upon, or there would not be so 
many infringement suits. How, then, do these 
laws effectually prevent infraction ? 

A. The numerous infringement suits that we 
hear of so often, are seldom, if ever, the cause of 
actual infringement upon an invention that is prop- 
erly covered by a patent. V/hen an invention is 
distinctly and clearly defined in the specification, 
properly presented and carefully claimed, nO' one 
will attempt to infringe upon that patent. But an 
open door courts a thief, says an old saw. ^ Where 
there is a weak patent, someone is sure to take ad- 
A^antage of it. Most of the infringement suits and 
litigation of patents arise from defective titles, in- 
sufficient or improper claims, ambiguous or other- 
wise defective specifications, etc. — not from making 
an article that is properly covered by a patent. 



40 LABOPISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

It is the main object of this book to enlighten 
inventors on the subject of patents. ^ A clear com- 
prehension of the letter and spirit of our patent 
laws and of what a patent really is and what it 
should be will result in real patents and banish 
infringement suits ; such contests will diminish 
in proportion to that knowledge, and patents for 
inventions, large and small, will rise in value and 
importance. Thousands of nebulous patents are 
issued yearly and most every one of those patents 
i>: defeated in the courts; patentees who purchase 
such lose a great deal of money, and inventors who 
have ^real patents have the greatest difficulty to 
dispose of them. Nebulous patents are perfectly 
w^orthless and unsalable at any price ; one who hap- 
pens to buy such a patent once will never buy 
another patent of any kind. The subject of in- 
fringement — what it is and how it arises and how 
to prevent it — will be treated in this volume more 
extensively after the student has become more fa- 
miliar with the laws on patents and inventions, and 
the essentials of specifications and claims, which 
will be clearly defined in the succeeding pages in 
this work. 

6. Q. What is an invention? What is a dis- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 41 

covery ? Who may obtain' a patent for such inven- 
tion or discovery? 

A. Section 4886, of the United States Patent 
Laws, prescribes that any person who has invented 
or disicovered any new and us'eful art, mlachine, 
manufacture, or composition of matter, or any 
new and useful improvements thereof, not known 
or used by others, may obtain a patent therefor. 
Section 4887 prescribes that no person shall be dis- 
barred from receiving a patent for his invention or 
discovery. The Constitutional provision for pat- 
ent protection, upon which the aforementioned sec- 
tions were enacted, makes no mention of invention, 
but of discovery (see answer to question 2), yet, 
in practice, the discovery of a new art, machine, 
manufacture, or composition of matter is not the 
subject of a patent. 

The accepted legal definition of the term "inven- 
tion," as gathered from decisions rendered by judi- 
cial tribunals, is the act of devising a mlachine or 
mechanical contrivance to perform' a certain func- 
tion to the end of attaininig a useful result; and 
''discovery," the act of finding out a process or 
method which through the medium of some arti- 
ficial means a result is attained. Thus, though dis- 



42 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

covery is not by itself patentable it is patentable 
under the means through the medium of which 
the result is attained. 

7. Q. What is the legal purport of the words 
''any person" ? 

A. The adjective ''any'' excludes every possible 
distinction as to race, color, nationality or age; 
thus any man or woman, boy or girl, citizen or alien 
who has m.ade an invention or discovery may obtain 
a patent therefor. 

8. Q. Of how many kinds is invention or dis- 
covery ? 

A. Invention or discovery is of two kinds; first, 
any article or thing that has never before existed; 
second, any article or thing that is now in common 
use, or has been in existence, but is improved. 

9. Q. What is the legal purport of the word 
any"? 

A. the adjective "any" renders the meaning of 
the law very comprehensive. "Any" admits of no 
exception. "Any" thing that is new and useful. 

10. Q. What is the legal purport of the word 
"new" ? 



a 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 43 

A. By the word ''new " is meant an article or 
a thing or an improvement in such article or thing, 
so new that it has not been known or used by oth- 
ers in this country before the inventor's invention 
or discovery thereof, or patented or described in 
any printed publication in this or any foreign court- 
try before the inventor's invention or discovery 
thereof. 

11. Q, What is the legal purport of the words 
''not known or used by others before the inventor's 
invention or discovery thereof? 

A. Under the patent laws of the United States, 
the applicant for a patent must be the first as well 
as the original inventor. A subsequent inventor, 
though an original inventor, is not entitled to a 
patent. The words "by others" do not denote plu- 
rality, for it is of no consequence whether the inven- 
tion is extensively known or used, or whether the 
knowledge or use thereof is limited to a few per- 
sons, or even to the first inventor himself; the first 
inventor alone is entitled to a patent. 

12. Q. Would an invention that has been known 
or used in a foreign country be patentable in the 
United States? 



44 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

A. Yes ; but, in the words of the law, only "it 
it appear that the inventor, at the time of making 
his application, believed himself to be the first in- 
ventor or discoverer, a patent will not be refused 
on account of the invention or discovery, or any 
part thereof, having been known or used in any for- 
eign country before his invention or discovery 
thereof, if it had not been before patented, or de- 
scribed in any printed publication^'' 

13. Q. Of two inventors who have conceived 
an idea at approximately the same time, which 
one of them is the first inventor? 

A. An imperfect or incomplete invention, 
whether founded on mere theory, or on vague 
notion, or on uncertain experiments, but not actu- 
ally reduced to practice, or embodied in some dis- 
tinct machinery, apparatus, or manufacture, is n'ot, 
under our patent laws, an invention. Hence, he 
ij the first inventor, in the sense of the law, who has 
first perfected and adapted to use something re- 
duced to practice, or embodied in some distinct 
machinery, apparatus, or manufacture, and is alone 
entitled to the patent therefor. 

14. Q. As the law demands that the invention, 



And INVENTIONS— how mADE. 45 

for which a patent is solicited, shall not have been 
previously known or u'sed by others, would the pat- 
ent granted to the second inventor, who first re- 
duced the invention to practice and whose inven- 
tion has thus been known to the first invetor, be 
valid ? 

A. Under the patent laws oi the United States, 
the knowledge of the invention by ome or more per- 
sons who have abandoned the experiment does not 
bar a patent to a diligent inventor who perfected 
the abandoned invention. In other words, an in- 
ventor who has first actually perfected an invention 
will not be deemed to have surreptitiously or un- 
justlv obtained a patent for that which was, in fact, 
inve»'ted by another; unless the latter was, at the 
time, asing reasonable diligence in adapting and 
perfecting the same. It is a rule of law that he who 
invents first shall have the prior right if he is vising 
reaso^mhle diligence in reducing his invention to 
practice, although the second inventor has, in fact, 
first ^jerfected the invention and first reduced the 
sam** to practice in a positive form. 

I was recently consulted by an inventor, who is 
a fi'^eman on a locomotive; the man obtained a pat- 
ent for an improvement in an oil-can which is now 



46 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM 01^ PAT£;nTS 

he'mg made and marketed on a royalty. The in- 
ventor exhibited letters from a certain oil-can man- 
nfacturer in which he claims that some six or seven 
years ago his son conceived the idea of making 
an oil-can like the one patented by the fireman, and 
that he had then made an imperfect model show- 
ing certain features of the patented oil-can, but was 
so l3usy since that he could not spare the time to 
perfect it. The mianufacturer wished the inventor to 
call on him and talk it over with him. No' doubt 
many an honest original inventor is threatened in 
a similar manner. Such cases have been tried again 
and again and declared to be abandoned experi- 
ments; that oil-can manufacturer's son has abso- 
lutely no claim to the patented oil-can. Thomas 
A. Edison was not the first inventor of the incan- 
descent electric light, nor was Prof. Alexander G. 
Bell the first inventor of the telephone, neither is 
William Marconi the first inventor of the wirel^s 
telegraph; these were all abandoned experiments 
and these gentlemen have only perfected them and 
reduced them to practice. The law considers reduc- 
tion to practice actual inventing, although the last 
inventor added but a spring or a screw or some 
other insignificant part, but, if by this means he 



AND INVENTIONS—HOW MADE. 47 

made the thing work or available for practical use, 
he is entitled to a patent for the whole machine 
or thing. 

15. Q. What is the legal purport of the words 
"reduction to practice'' ? 

A. By the words ''reduction to practice'' is pri- 
mjarily meant the actual building of a working ma- 
chine embodying the invention; but the Patent 
Office holds that the filing of an application for a 
patent is a constructive reduction to practice, it 
being an announcement to the world and a notice 
to the Government that the applicant has perfected 
the machine and that it is now ready for practical 
use and that the applicant is entitled to a patent 
therefor. The requirement of an actually con- 
structed machine or model was abandoned by the 
Patent Office on the ground that from a properly 
constructed specification and drawing, such as the 
law requires, a mechanic skilled in' the art to which 
the invention appertains would be able to- construct 
the machine without making further experiments 
of his own, except, of course, to ascertain the proper 
materials, dimensions and proportions^ in whicli 
the law is not concerned. 



48 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

1 6. Q. What is the legal purport of the word 
^^iseful" ? 

A. In the patent act of the United States, the 
word ''useful" means an invention that may be ap- 
plied in a beneficial mianner, in contradistinction 
to an invention that is injurious to public health or 
morals, or is pernicious, frivolous, or worthless. 
The Patent Office is not concerned in the degree of 
utility of inventions, but want of utility is good 
cause for not granting a patent ; the invention must 
be of some use but not necessarily superior to the 
old article or thing. 

17. Q. What is the legal purport of the word 
''art"? 

A. The radical meaninig of the word ^'art" 
seems to afford subject-matter for discussion. The 
Constitutional provision, under which our patent 
laws are framed, looks to the promotion of "useful 
arts" (see answer to question 2). The act of Con- 
gress places "a new and useful art" among the 
inventions and discoveries it professes to protect, 
and assigns to it the first place in the list (see 
answer to question 7.) Yet, an art such as that 
is, in the abstract or the principle only, can not, 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 49 

under the patent laws, be made the subject of a 
patent, but must be explained in the specification and 
illustrated in the drawing when of such a character 
as to render this possible. An art, in law, means 
a ^usefuil art, which to procure a patent therefor 
must be described with exactness in its mode of 
operation, and can be protected only in its mode 
of operation. It must be explicable and referable 
to something that may prove it to be useful. 

^ A process is included under the general term 
^'useful art", as an art may require one or more 
processes or machines in order to produce a certain 
result or manufacture ; as the art of photo-engrav- 
ing requires several processes in the operation. A 
process is usually the result of discovery; a ma- 
chine, of invention. One may discover an improve- 
ment in a process irrespective of any form; of ma- 
chinery, and another may invent a labor-saving 
machine, by which the operation or process may 
be performed better or cheaper, and each may be 
entitled to a patent. 

^ Patents for arts are of two kinds' — design and 
construction ; the former are granted for improve- 
m.ents in the esthetic, or fine arts, such as orna- 
mentation, configuration, etc., and the latter for 



50 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

improvements in the useful arts of industry and 
mechanics, such as construction^ and arrangement. 

1 8. Q. What is the legal purport of the word 
'^machine''? 

A. The term ''machine'' includes every mechan- 
ical device or combination of mechanical powers 
and devices' to perform some function or to produce 
a certain effect or result ; it is of no consequence 
whether same is made of metal, wood, or other 
substance. In the statute the word ''m.achine'' in- 
cludes new combinations as well as new organiza- 
tions of mechanism. An ''improved machine" and 
"an improvement in a machine" are substantially 
tlie same. 

19. Q. What is the legal purport of the word 
"manufacture" ? 

A. The word "manufacture" embraces practi- 
cally everything that is not a machine, art or com- 
position of matter ; as a hair-pin, a clothes-pin, an 
envelope, a shoe, a garment, a corset — in fact, 
everything that is made by hand or machinery, but 
not what is produced by nature,, as a tree, a flower, 
or vegetable. 



And inVentions-how made. 51 

20. Q. What is the legal purport of the words 
''composition of matter''? 

A. Matter that is composed of two or more 
ingredients, whether it is in hquiid, paste, pill or 
tablet form, such as shoe blacking, stove polish, 
mJedical or chemical compositions, etc. Medical 
compositions, however, are discriminated against 
by the Patent Office, probably because of their 
indiscriminate use and therefore unwholesome ef- 
fect upon the public health 

21. Q. What is the legal purport of the word 
"improvement" ? 

A. By the v/ord ''improvement'' is meant, any 
specific article or thing (art, machine, manufac- 
ture or composition of matter) which now exists, 
but that by adding something to its present struct- 
ure or by taking something from its present num- 
ber o<f parts, without decreasing its efficiency, or by 
rearranging its component parts, some new and 
desirable result is obtained, such as an enlarge- 
ment upon the scope of operation of such article, 
the simplification of operation or manipulation of 
such article, or the reduction of the cost of its man- 
ufacture, or some equivalent of these. Within the 



52 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

meaning of the word ''improvement'' every change 
of construction of an article, however sHght it may 
appear, if the change conserves some useful pur- 
pose it is understood toi be an improvement and 
patentable. 

22. O. Does an improved machine, to be pat- 
entable, have to be composed of parts different from 
the old machine? 

A. No; all the parts may be old and well 
known. The material question in patent causes is 
not whether the same elements of motion or the 
same component parts are used; but whether the 
given effect is produced substantially the same as 
in the old machine ; by the same mode of operation 
and by the same combination of powers. The very 
same old parts may be used in the same machine, 
but if in a different combination the machine is pat- 
entable. For instance, the cranks and pedals of a 
bicycle were formerly used to turn the front wheel 
of the machine; the change of position of these 
very cranks so as to turn the back wheel instead 
of the front produced a new and patentable ma- 
chine; this change in the position of the cranks 
made safety, high speed, low drop and short turn 
possible — objects heretofore unattainable. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 53 

S3. Q. Is a new discovery, a new effect, a new 
function, a new principle, or a new motive power 
patentable ? 

A. A patent can in no wise be for an abstract 
discovery, effect, function, principle, or motive 
power unless the inventor or the discoverer has 
gone beyond the mere domain of discovery and con- 
nected his newly discovered effect, discovery, func- 
tion, principle, or motive power with some partic- 
ular medium or mechanical contrivance by which, 
or through which, it may be made to act upon the 
material world. Under the patent act of the United 
States the inventor can control his invention or dis- 
covery only through the means by which he 
brought it into practical action. It is obvious that 
if a new discovery, effect, function, principle or mo- 
tive power is produced by an old machine in its 
unaltered state, no patent can be obtained therefor, 
for it would be a patent for a discovery, effect, 
function, principle or motive power only, or an 
analogous effect, popularly termed ^ ^double use.'*' 
But if the new discovery, effect, function, princi- 
ple or motive power entails a change in the con- 
struction of the machine, device or apparatus, how- 
ever apparently slight that change may be, it would 



54 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENT^ 

be an invention, in the sense of the law, and a pat- 
ent therefor to secure to the inventor the control 
of such discovery, effect, function, principle or mo'- 
tive power produced by that change will be granted 
and can be legally supported. An abstract must be 
resolved into a concrete; a patent must be for a 
thing, not for a mere idea. This is the sum and 
substance of the law on this important subject. 

24. Q. Is a change in the form of an article 
patentable ? 

A. No; a mere change of form or proportion 
where no nev/ result or advantage is obtained is not 
patentable. A mere substitution of wood, bone, or 
rubber for metal, or one for another kind of metal 
is not patentable. The making of a structure in 
a solid casting instead of attached parts is not pat- 
entable. But if some new and useful result is ob- 
tained by any of the enumerated changes, such 
as an increase in the efficiency, or a saving in the 
operation or mianipulation of such article, the 
change is patentable. But useful, patentable and 
profitable changes of form, changes of proportion, 
substitution of material, etc., are not at all impos- 
sible; they have been and are constantly being 
miade. Look at the numerous simple changes in 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 55 

suspender and harness buckles, the numerous 
changes in sewing machine shuttles, the highly ben- 
eficial change of proportion of the ''high arm" sew- 
ing machine, the substitution of steel for the boney 
substance of the goose quill, the substitution of rub- 
ber for iron tires of vehicles, or the substitution 
of metal for wood in the construction of bed- 
steads, and other instances too numerous to men- 
tion. Such changes and substitutions are commer- 
cially very profitable, and if they conserve some use- 
ful purpose are patentable. 

25. Q. Is an advantageous change of a curve 
or angle patentable? 

A. Yes ; it has been decided that as curves and 
angles become of importance, in plow shares, water 
v/heels, rotary pumps, engines and blowers, and 
in certain other mechanical contrivances in which 
the change of a curve or an angle produces a new 
and useful result, it is patentable. 

26. Q. Is the assemblage of two or more arti- 
cles of common use into a unitary structure pat- 
entable ? 

A. No; an assemblage of two or more inde- 
pendent articles of common use into a unitary struct- 



56 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

ure, such as a knife, fork, spoon, screw driver, 
corkscrew, etc., or some similar combination of 
articles, instruments, or implements, assembled into 
a unitary structure is not patentable. But if such 
a co-mbination conserves to some useful end, it is 
patentable. For instance, the combining of a spade 
or shovel with a scraper, to scrape off the adher- 
ing dirt from the spade or the shovel ; or a drill press 
with a vice, to hold the work while drilling it; or 
some similar combination of two or more independ- 
ent articles of common use so combined as to per- 
form jointly some new and useful act, is a patent- 
able combination. 

2j, Q. Is an air-ship or a perpetual-motion de- 
vice patentable? 

A. Yes ; but no patents will be granted on air- 
ships without a practical demonstration; nor will 
perpetual-motion inventions be considered without 
a practical demonstration of a full-sized working 
machine. The Patent Office refuses to accept appli- 
cations for patents for perpetual-motion inventions 
and a woTking machine has never yet, and perhaps 
never will be, presented. Don't misapply your en- 
ergy and ingenuity, and don't waste your valuable 



AND iNVEiNTlONS— HOW MADE. S7 

time on air-ships and pierpetual-motiom devices. 
These are considered by the greatest men in the 
world as unattainable objects. Air navigation may, 
however, be achieved some day, but probably not 
without some ballooning device. At any rate it 
is a serious undertaking, requiring an immense 
amount of time and money with a slim chance of 
returns. 

28. Q. What is the legal purport of the words 
"principles of a machine'' ? 

A. By the words ''principles of a machine", as 
the words are used in the statute, is meant the 
^ peculiar device or manner of producing a given 
effect of any kind. The principles of a machine 
may be new to produce either a new or an old 
effect. For instance, in the Remington typewriter 
the platen is shifted to print capital letters, while 
in the Rem-Sho. the type basket is shifted to^ print 
capitals. The latter machine produces the same 
old effect, but by a new principle. Another illus- 
tration of a new principle is the key levers of the 
Remington typewriter, which swing vertically, 
while those of the Smith-Premier typewriter tiirn 
or rock in bearings laterally. A new principle of 
an old effect, even if it conserves no useful purpose, 



58 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

is a very good legal and commercial invention. 
^ Competition demands frequent changes. Further- 
more, some old principles do not yield to improve- 
ments very readily, while new principles, to produce 
the same old effect, often lend themselves to im- 
provements (see answer to question 22.). 

the: spirit of our pate:nt IvAWvS conce:rning 
pate:ntabiuty 01^ inv:e:ntion and discov£:ry. 

The subject of patentability is one that vexes not 
only inventors, but even some patent attorneys; 
in the preceding answers on this important subject 
I have endeavored to cover such as are most 
likely to come to the student^s notice, but the sub- 
ject is practically inexhaustable. The full text of the 
section of the Patent Act bearing on patentabihty 
of invention, is : ''Sec. 4886. Any person v/ho has 
invented or discovered any new and useful art, ma- 
chine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or 
any new and useful improvemients thereof, not 
known or used by others in this country, before 
his invention or discovery thereof, and not patented 
or described in any printed publication in this or 
any foreign country, before his invention or dis- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 59 

covery thereof, or more than two years prior to his 
apphcation, and not in pubHc use or on sale in this 
country for more than two years prior to' his appli- 
cation, unless the same is proved to have been aban- 
cloned, may, upon payment of the fees required by 
law, and other due proceeding had, obtain a pat- 
ent therefor. ^' * *'' The following fev/ illus- 
trations of the spirit of the patent lavv^s may, in 
connection with the letter of the laws hereinbefore 
explained and the section just quoted, greatly assist 
the inventor in determining the patentability of his 
invention : 

The discoverer of any new abstract principle, art, 
process, discovery, effect, function or motive power, 
as stated, is not entitled to a patent therefor. ^ To 
be a useful invention every one of these must be 
reduced to practice so as to be available in some 
practical form. For instance, one v/ho has found 
out that a blast of hot air, instead of cold, would 
increase the product of the furnace and change the 
nature of the iron, Vv^as held not entitled to a pat- 
ent therefor. But, when one set of machinery has 
been contrived by him by means of which this find- 
ing was carried into effect, it v/as held that the dis- 
coverer was entitled to such claims as to secure 



6o LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

to him the exclusive use of the hot blast in every 
form. More than this, other machinery, better 
suited to the purpose to increase the product of the 
furnace by means of the hot blast, was held to be 
an infringement. Again, the discovery of any new 
natural substance entitles no one tO' the exclusive 
use of it, '^ unless new properties are imparted to the 
substance by an artificial process, in which case a 
patent would issue to the discoverer and secure to 
him all the benefits resulting therefrom. A new 
marl, mineral or other fertilizer, for instance, in 
its natural state is not patentable; but if that fer- 
tilizer requires grinding or some other process or 
mechanical operation to make it available for fertil- 
izing purposes, it would be patentable under the 
process of the grinding or such other mechanical 
operation necessary to make it available for practi- 
cal use. ^ Nature is the common property of man- 
kind and can not be monopolized. Likewise, a 
mere change of the form of an article or of its pro- 
portion, as previously stated, is not regarded as an 
improvement unless some nevv^ and useful property 
is established, such as an enlargement upon the 
scope of its operation, reduction of cost of its man- 
ufacture, or something equivalent thereto. For ex- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 6i 

ample, a patent having been obtained for an im- 
provement in making friction matches with a new 
compound. Objedtion was made to it because the 
same ingredients had been used for the purpose be- 
fore, but the objection was overruled, and the pat- 
ent sustained, ^on the ground that these ingredi- 
ents had never been employed in the same combi- 
nation. This combination had for its object a use- 
ful result, namely, the production of the article at 
a cheaper rate. So the mere substitution of one 
well-known mechanical equivalent for another, as 
of gear wheels for belting, friction gears for spur 
or bevel g'cars, a spring for a weight,- a screw for 
a lever, etc., is not regarded, within the meaning 
of the patent act, as an improvement. ^ For neither 
the principle nor the practice of the invention could 
be regarded as being strictly new and therefore 
not entitled to the benefit of the patent. Never- 
theless, a new combinationi, or rearrangement of 
the component parts, of well-known mechanical 
contrivances for a certain useful purpose, instead 
of mere substitution, may form the basis of a claim 
for a patent, if the purpose, by the means proposed, 
is better accomplished, or is accomplished at a re- 
duction of cost, or ^ establishes a new principle of 



62 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

the machine. In order that a combination of me- 
chanical powers may be properly protected, if all 
the parts were old and it embraces some new device, 
both the combination and the device must be se- 
cured to the inventor by properly worded claims. 
^ The application of any known process to effect 
a new result, enftirely different from any former 
one, or one that has been employed heretofore, is 
patentable. For example, the use of the flame of 
gas to singe off the superfluous or loose fibres of 
lace, was deemed an application of the kind, and 
on this decision it was declared susceptible of be- 
ing patented. Yet, on the other hand, it has been 
determined that the new object, to wdiich the pro- 
cess is applied, must not be analogous to the old 
one. For example, to curl palm leaf for mattresses 
by the same process which had been used to curl 
hair for mattresses, was held to be a mere double 
use of the process and not entitled to a patent. 
^^ An invention of an ornamental mode of putting 
up thread, for instance, which gives no additional 
value to the thread but simply adds to selling it 
more readily at retail, and for a larger price, is not 
a useful invention within the meaning of the law. 



AND INVENTIONS—HOW MADE. 63 

and therefore not patentable. An inventioii of this 
character nmy be patented as a design. 

Whether an invention, under the circunistances, 
will justify any expectation of a patent, must be 
determined by the inventor himself or his attorney, 
and with the aid of the foregoing explanations he 
should have no difficulty in doing so. In an age 
so prolific of the results of genius as the present, 
it would seem as if the store of ingenuity had been 
exhausted; and yet we see that annually the in- 
crease of patents obtained is steady and progressive, 
and the indications are that it will continue so per- 
haps to the end of time. 

29. Q. What are the fundamental requirements 
of an application for a patent? 

A. ^riie fundamental requirements of an appli- 
cation for a patent are as follows: i. A concrete 
and illustrated description of the construction of the 
invention; 2. A detailed description of the best 
mode of operating the invention ; 3. A detailed de- 
scription of the principles of the invention; 4. A 
summary of the construction, the functions, effects, 
and of the principles of the invention described in 
the €pecification. These are the fundamental prin- 



64 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

ciples upon which a patent is established, and upon 
the careful preparation and nicety of execution of 
these parts hangs the fate and validity of the pat- 
ent. 

30. Q. How should the invention be shown 
and described? 

A. The drawings and the specifications must 
show and describe the invention in such full, clear, 
concise and exact terms as to enable any person 
skilled in the art or science to which the invention 
appertain, or with which it is most nearly connected 
to make, construct, comipound and use the samiC 
without the assistance of the inventor. 

31. Q. Why should the law demand such a 
concrete and illustrative application for a patent ? 

A. For several reasons, principally among which 
are these : Patents are benignly construed in favor 
of inventor ; but how would the courts know how 
to construe a patent, if the specification were in' an 
abstract form? The opponent, in his endeavor to 
overthrow the patent, would contend that the in- 
ventor did not mean so, because he did not so spec- 
ify in his specification, or show in his drawings, 
etc. Again the public is entitled to protection. How 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 65 

would one know that he is making or using some- 
■ thing that has been patented, if the patent, the pub- 
hcation of which is the only notice to the public 
what part of the machine or article is patented, 
does not disclose the invention so' clearly and defi- 
nitely as to be readily understood by the mechanic 
who m.akes such articles? And then again, after 
the expiration of the term for which the patent was 
granted, the invention becomes public property, 
and the public must know how tO' make and use it. 
This, it v/ill be remembered, is the consideration 
for which the patent was granted (see answer to 
question 2). Hence, a scanty specification is likely 
to invalidate the patent. 

32. Q. Would the examiners pass on an applica- 
tion that does not describe and illustrate the inven- 
tion so very accurately?^ 

A. Occasionally they do. As they are experts 
in grasping ideas, they are apt to think that others 
will understand the invention from the scanty speci- 
fication and pass on it. Quite frequently, however, 
examiners are obliged to pass on a scanty specifica- 
tion because it is the only kind the inventor or his 
attorney is able to make out. 



66 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF" PATENTS 

33. Q. Are the claims a part of the specification ? 

A. Yes ; the specification concludes with a spe- 
cific and distinct claim or claims of the part, im- 
provement or combination which the applicant re- 
gards as his invention. The claims are a summary 
of the novel features of construction, effects, func- 
tions and principles, or the combination of the parts 
of the invention described in the specification. 

Following is the order of arrangement in the 
framing of a specification: 

( 1 ) Preamble stating your name and resi- 
dence and the title of the invention. 

(2) General statement of the object and 
nature of the invention. 

(3) Brief description of the several views 
of the drawings. 

(4) Detailed description. 

(5) Claim or claims. 

(6) Signature of inventor. 

(7) Signatures of two witnesses. 

34. Q. Is a patent founded on the specification 
or the claims? 

A. The patent is based on the specification and 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. (^1 

the claims; the specification and the drawings inter- 
pret the claims. 

35. Q. What constitutes a complete application 
for a patent? 

A. A complete application for a patent com- 
prises the first Government fee of $15, a petition, 
a specification, oath, drawings and a power of 
attorney, when the apphcant is represented by an at- 
torney. 

36. Q. If the examiners pass the case to issue, 
io not that sufficient evidence that the specification 
and drawings are executed in accordance with the 
requirem.ents of the law? 

A. No; for the reasons given in the foregoing 
answers. Examiners pass to issue many defective 
and insufficient specifications because, as stated, 
they cannot get the applicant or his attorney to 
furnish a better one. It is to the inventor's inter- 
est that the specification and the drawings shall 
show and describe the invention as accurately, 
clearly and distinctly as possible. The description 
and the drawings should be accommodated to the 
comprehension of practical mechanics without tax- 
ing their ingenuity or inventive powers. Ambigu- 



68 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 



• 



ity will invalidate a patent for an invention that 
would otherwise have been sustained. ^ It is a rule 
of law that when the invention is so loosely and in- 
accurately described in the specification, that the 
courts can not, without resorting to conjectures, 
gather what it is, then the patent is void. 

RE:QUISITI0N of SPE:CIFICATI0N and CI.AIMS. 

The full text of the section of the Patent Act 
bearing on the specification and claims, is: "Sec. 
4888. Before any inventor or discoverer shall re- 
ceive a patent for his invention or discovery he shall 
make application therefor, in writing, to the Com- 
missioner of Patents, and shall file in the Patent 
Office a written description of the same, and the 
manner and process of making, constructing, com- 
pounding, and using it, in such full, clear, concise, 
and exact terms as to enable any person skilled 
in the art or science to which it appertains, or with 
which it is most nearly connected, to make, con- 
struct, compound, and use the same ; and in case of 
a machine, he shall explain the principle thereof, 
and the best mode in which he has contemplated 
applying that principle, so as distinguish it from 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 69 

other inventions; and he shall particularly point 
out and distinctly claim the part, improvement, 
or combination which he claims as his invention 
or discovery. The specification and claim shall be 
signed by the inventor and attested by two wit- 
nesses.'' The main object of the specification is 
thus to tell the mechanic how to make the machine. 
The subject is of such great importance that we can 
not learn too much of it. A mechanic is not sup- 
posed to be an inventor or a mind reader, or a logi- 
cian ; if you want him to carry out your orders you 
must tell him in simple and unmistakable language 
just what 3^ou want him to do. If you write an 
order to your mechanic like, this : ''Go down into 
the cellar of my house and stop a leak in the roof," 
your ambiguity will cost you money ; the mechanic 
will charge you for the time he and his helper have 
wasted in hunting for a roof in your cellar. Of 
course you would blame the mechanic for his stu- 
pidity, because you meant for him to go down into 
the cellar and get the pot of paint there, and then 
go up on the roof of your house and stop the leak 
therein, but you did not say so. Precisely the same 
view is taken by the courts. When your patent is 
litigated and impeached and vitiated for ambigu- 



70 LABOFlSffS CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

ity, no notice is taken of explanations of what you 
or your attorney meant by such and such an expres- 
sion; you simply broke the contract between you 
and the Government and your patent is null and 
void. The author has just examined a patent which 
read thus : ''Upon the face of the dial is located 
a guide dial A, with a pointer a 'fixed' over it;" on 
the second' page of same specification is a statement 
like this : "A wheel ax 'moves' the guide dial hand 
of' Here the inventor's attorney called the pointer 
"hand", but this does not matter, though it is not 
proper to term an element by different names 
in the same specification, but so long as he indicated 
the hand or pointer by the same reference letter 
there is no serious objection thereto; but observe 
that in the first clause the attorney stated that the 
pointer is "fixed" over the guide dial, while in the 
second clause he stated that that pointer a "moves." 
If you were a model maker and the inventor sent 
you this patent to make the model therefrom, you 
would rivet on a pointer a over the guide dial good 
and tight, for such is his order "fixed," and 
go on with the construction of the machine until 
finished ; but when the machine was nearly finished 
you would come to a statement in which your em- 



AND INVENTIONS—HOW MADE. 71 

ployer, the inventor, tells you to provide the pointer 
a with a wheel ax for the purpose of turning that 
pointer which you have fixed so as to prevent every 
possible chance of turning. What would you do 
under such circumstances? You would tell that 
inventor, your employer, ''See here, I followed your 
instructions to the letter and made the machine just 
as you directed me, and made the pointer 'fixed' ; 
now as your machine refuses to work with a fixed 
pointer, if you want me to make another machine 
with a pointer a that 'moves' you must pay mie for 
this one first; the fact that the machine with the 
fixed pointer is no good to^ you does not concern me ; 
I have spent my time on it, and my time must be 
paid for; the blunder is yours, not mine." The 
student will readily see the justice and wisdom' of 
vitiating such patents. Careless or indifferent in- 
ventors and ignorant attorneys ^ would keep the 
public cutting and trying, wasting time, money 
and material. 

Let it be remembered that the principle object 
secured by the specification is such a full descrip- 
tion of the invention that after the patent has ex- 
pired the public will know how to avail themselves 
of it with reasonable facility without the assistance 



72 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

or further explanation of the inventor. It is not 
necessary for this that the description should be 
so minute, full and clear that any man, however ig- 
norant on the subject, shall be able to make 
and use the machine; it is enough if, to adopt 
the expressions of the statute, ^it will enable 
any person skilled in the art or science to which 
the invention appertains, or with which it is 
m.ost nearly connected, to make, construct, com- 
pound and use the same. Neither, on the other 
hand, w411 it suffice if the specification were 
couched in such terms that none but experts of the 
highest ingenuity can understand it, or reduce it to 
practice. "^ A person of ordinary capacity and skill 
should be able to follow it and put it intO' operation 
without contriving anything new of his own, with- 
out making any additions beyond wdmt is prescribed 
and, it has been decided, without resorting to re- 
peated experiments. The latter rule should, how- 
ever, be qualified. Where, for instance, materi- 
als are to be worked upon .which are variable in 
their nature and recjuire that the ingredients em- 
ployed in producing the result should be used in 
different proportions, it is often the case that the 
inventor himself could not determine upon the 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 7.3 

proper proportion without experiment. A patent 
for a valuable flux would not be vitiated because 
the quality to be used with a new combination of 
ores could be ascertained only by trial. Such al- 
terations also in the dimensions or proportions in 
the different parts- of a machine as an ordinary me- 
chanic would readily see were needed to make it 
operate successfully, would not impair the validity 
of a patent. The materials to be employed must 
be such as are well known to persons conversant 
with the subject; if they are described in terms cal- 
culated to mislead, it will be deemed a fraud. In 
short, care must be taken to disclose everything 
which is essential toward accomplishing the object 
to the best advantage as far as is known. On the 
other hand, nothing must be introduced as a part 
of the invention, which does not contribute to the 
result. ^ No' secret improvement must be kept in 
reserve to enable the inventor to command the mar- 
ket after his patent has expired ; for this would be 
deemed and' taken as equally fraudulent. Neither, 
must he impair the usefulness of his invention or 
discovery by inducing others to employ something 
as necessary to success, which serves nO' useful pur- 
pose. The act of Congress requires that the inven- 



74 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

tor shall '^explain the principle thereof [of the in- 
vention] and the best mode in which the applicant 
has contemplated applying the principle in such man- 
ner as to distinguish it from other inventions." In 
the act of Congress of 1836 the inventor was re- 
quired to ^'fully explain the several modes in which 
he has contemplated the appHcationof the principle." 
The present provision which requires that only 
the best mode shall be described is much more con- 
venient and more comprehensive. A person writ- 
ing a specification might not be able to recall all 
the possible modes of application of the principle 
of the invention ; the principle of the invention may 
be applicable to something which does not then ex- 
ist. The present provision is easily complied with 
by describing the most advantageous mode one 
miay now be contemplating, and insert the word 
''preferably" or ''suitably" or some similar word 
or words; all other modes will then be understood. 
Similarly in describing the construction of a cer- 
tain member of the invention, the word "prefera- 
bly" renders it more comprehensive, as the words 
"preferably cylindrical" would be understood to 
mean that C3dindrical is the best mode but that the 
thing may be square, triangular or flat. Where 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 75 

the invention consists of an improvement upon ma- 
chinery already patented, this instruction can not be 
reHed upon. ^ The description must then be con- 
fined to the precise improvement or formation of 
the part as shown and described. If the improve- 
ment lies in making the member cylindrical instead 
of flat or some other shape, then the description of 
that principle or construction of the member of the 
machine must, by explicit language, distinguish 
between what is old and what is claimed as new. 
The usual and approved course is, to describe all 
the apparatus employed, both old and new, as far as 
is requisite to make the operation of the invention 
perfectly clear. Such machinery as is already 
known to persons of ordinary skill in the business, 
and in which no alterations are proposed, needs only 
to be referred to by name; for instance, the valves 
of a pump; if the invention lies in the piston only, 
the name valve is sufificient without describing its 
construction. But when alterations in the usual 
form are necessary, such alterations should be 
clearly pointed out, and especially everything that 
i: new in them. All that contributes to the new 
result and forms a part of the invention should be 
particularly described. If any method of effecting 



?6 LABOFiSH^S CATECHtSM OF PATENTS 

the object is claimed which proves ineffectual, or 
which has been anticipated by a prior patent, it may 
invalidate the patent. 

The law requires that a specific and distinct 
claim Oir claims of the part, improvement or com- 
bination which the applicant regards as his inven- 
tion or discover}^ should conclude the specification. 
After describing the whole mechanism employed, 
old as well as new, the invention relied on is set 
out v/ith precision and claimed. The claims are a 
summary of the novel features or combinations de- 
scribed in the specification — but this subject will 
be more extensively treated in this book after the 
specification and illustrations have been disposed oi. 

From the foreg^oing explanation the student 
should have a clear idea of how a specification must 
be written to comply with ah the requirenients of 
the law. In patent matters one should be satis- 
fied with nothing but absolute accuracy in every 
detail. Inventors who feel themselves capable of 
preparing and prosecuting their own cases should 
place themselves under the supervision of a com- 
petent patent attorney who should inspect the ap- 
plication before it is filed, and examine every ac- 
tion and subsequent amendment thereon. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 7}^ 

37. Q. Does the Patent Office require a working 
model of the invention to accompany the applica- 
tion ? 

A. No; unless the invention is, in the opinion 
of the examiner, inoperative, in which case he may 
call for a model which must then be just as the 
drawings portray it. 

Most every invention, however complicated it 
may be, can usually be shown up and described so 
lucidly that the examiner will readily understand 
it and see its operativeness and not call for a model, 
unless it is a flying, perpetual-motion or similar ma- 
chine or thing- the operativeness of which has never 
been demonstrated. Ordinarily, models are now 
called for only in cases where the invention from 
the description and the illustration, which may sim- 
ply be obscure or incomplete, appears inoperative; 
in such cases it is better to abandon the application 
and file new, properly prepared specification and 
drawings, for the model will never work as shown 
and described; but in a case where the application is 
properly prepared but the invention is of a nature 
that only a model will demonstrate its operative- 
ness, a model should be made and furnished. 



;8 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

Following is the full text of the rules relating to 
models. 

the: modkl. 

I. PreHminary examinations will not be made 
for the purpose of determining whether models 
are required in particular cases. Applications 
complete in all other respects will be sent to the 
examining divisions, whether models are or are not 
furnished. A model will only be required or ad- 
mitted as a part of the application when on exam- 
ination of the case in its regular order the primary 
examiner shall find it to be necessary or useful. 
In such case, if a model has not been furnished, 
the examiner shall notify the applicant of such re- 
quirement, which will constitute an official action 
in the case. When a model is received in compli- 
ance with the official requirement, the date of its 
filing shall be entered on the file wrapper. Mod- 
els not required or admitted will be returned to 
the applicants. When a model is required, the ex- 
amination will be suspended until it shall have been 
filed. iM'om a decision of the primary examiner 
overruling a motion to dispense with a model an 
appeal may be taken to the Commissioner in person. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 79 

2. The model must clearly exhibit every feature 
of the machine which forms th.e subject of a claim 
of the invention, but should not include other miatter 
than that covered by the actual invention or im- 
provement, unless it l^e necessar}^ to the exhibition 
of the invention in. a working- model. 

3. The model must l3e neatly and substantially 
made of durable material, metal 1>eing deemed pref^ 
erable; but when the material forms an essential 
feature of the invention, the model should be con- 
structed of that material. The model must not be 
more than one foot in length, width, or height, ex- 
cept in cases in which the Commissioner shall admit 
working models of complicated machines of larger 
dimensions. If made of wood, it must be painted' or 
varnished. Glue must not be used; but the parts 
should be so connected as to resist the action of heat 
and moisture. When practicable, to prevent loss, 
the model or specimen should have the name of 
the inventor permanently fixed thereon. In cases 
where models are not made strong and substantial 
as here directed, the application will not be exam- 
ined until a proper model is furnished. 

4. A working model is often desirable, in order 



8o LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

to enable the office fully and readily to understand 
the precise operation of the machine. 

5. In all applications which have remained re- 
jected for more than one year the model, unless it 
is deemed necessary thiat it should be preserved in 
the office, may be returned to the applicant upon 
demand and at his expense; and the model in any 
pending case of less than one year's standing may 
be returned to the applicant upon the filing of a 
formal abandonment of the application, signed by 
the applicant in ])erson. 

Models belonging to ])aten1ed cases shall not be 
taken from the office except in the custody of some 
sworn employe of the office specially authorized 
by the Comtm'ssioner. 

6. Models filed as exhibits in contested cases may 
be returned to the parties at their expense. If not 
claimed within a reasonable time, they may be dis- 
posed cf at the direction of the Commissioner. 

38. Q. What are the drawings to the patent? 

A. The drawings are to illustrate the exact shape 
of every detail of the invention, and the parts of 
the old structure with which it cooperates, that is 
described in the specification. The drawings form 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 8i 

a part of the specification and at issue become part 
of the patent. 

3'j) Q. How should the drawings be made? ^ 

A. If ;]ic student happens to be an artist, and 
a good oriC, and wishes tO' make his own drawings 
he nisiy do so by following these rules which are 
rigidly enforced by the Pa^tent Office: 

the: drawings. 

1. The applicant for a patent is required by law 
to furnish a drawing of his invention whenever the 
nature of the case admits oi it. 

2. The drawings may be signed by the inventor, 
or the name of the inventor may be signed on the 
drawings by his attorney in fact, and must be attest- 
ed by two witnesses. The drawing must show every 
feature of the invention covere'd by the claims, and 
the figau^es should be consecutively numbered if 
possible. When the invention; consists O'f an 
improvement on an old machine the drawing must 
exhibit, in one or more views, the invention itself> 
disconnected from the old structure, and also in 
another view so much only of the old structure as 



82 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

will suffice to show the connectioii of the invention 
therewith. 

3. Three several editions of patent drawings are 
printed and published — one for office use, certified 
copies, etc., of the size and character of those 
attached to patents, the work being about 6 by 9 
1-2 inches; one reduced to half that scale, or one- 
fourth the surface, of which four are printed on a 
page to illustrate the volumes distributed to the 
courts ; and one reduction — to about the same scale 
— of a selected portion of each drawing for the Offi- 
cial Gazette. 

This w^ork is done by the photolithographic process 
and therefore the character of each original drawl- 
ing must be brought as nearly as possible to a uni- 
form standard of excellence, suited to the require- 
ments of the process, and calculated to give the best 
results, in the interests of inventors, of the office, 
and of the public. The following rules will there- 
fore be rigidly enforced, and any departure from 
them will be certain to cause delay in the examina- 
tion of an application for letters patent: 

( I ) Drawings must be made upon pure white 
paper of a thickness corresponding to three- 
sheet Bristol-board. The surface of the paper 



AND INVENtiONS— HOW mAdE. 83 

must be calendered and smooth. India ink 
alone must be used, to secure perfectly black 
and solid lines. 

(2) The size of a sheet on which a drawing is 
made must be exactly 10 by 15 inches. One 
inch from its edges a single marginal line is to 
be drawn, leaving the ''sight'' precisely 8 by 
13 inches. Within this margin all work and 
signatures must be included. One of the 
shorter sides of the sheet is regarded as its top, 
and, measuring downwardiy from the mar- 
ginal line, a space of not less than i 1-4 inches 
is to be left blank for the heading of title, 
name, number, and date. 

(3) All drawings must be made with the pen 
only. Every line and letter (signatures in- 
cluded) must be absolutely black. This direc- 
tion applies to all lines, however fine, to shad- 
ing, and to lines representing cut surfaces in 
sectional views. All Hues must be clean, sharp, 
and solid, and they must not be too fine or 
crowded. Surface shading, when used, should 
be open. Sectional shading should be made by 
oblique parallel lines, which may be about one- 
twentieth of an inch apart. Solid black should 



84 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

not be used for sectional or surface shading. 

(4) Drawings should be made with the fewest 
lines possible consistent with clearness. By 
the observance of this rule the effectiveness of 
the work after reduction will be much in- 
creased. Shading (except on sectional views) 
should be used only on convex and concave 
surfaces, where it should be used sparingly, 
and even there should be dispensed with if the 
drawing is otherwise well executed. The plane 
upon which a sectional view is taken should be 
indicated on the general view by a broken or 
dotted line. Heavy lines on the shade sides 
of objects should be used, except where they 
tend to thicken the work and obscure letters 
of reference. The light is always supposed to 
come from the upper left-hand corner at an 
angle of forty-five degrees. Imitations of 
wood or surface graining should not be at- 
tempted. 

( 5 ) The scale to which a drawing is made ought 
to be large enough to show the mechanism 
without cro^vding, and two or more sheets 
should be used if one does not give sufficiait 
room to acconlpli^h this end; but the number 



, AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 85 

of sheets must never be more than is absolutely 
necessary. 
(6) The different views should be consecutively 
numbered. Letters and figures' of reference 
must be carefully formed. They should, if 
possible, measure at least one-eighth of an 
inch in height, so that they may bear reduction 
to one twenty-fourth of an inch ; and they may 
be much larger when there is sufficient room. 
They must be so placed in the close and com- 
plex parts of drawings as not to interfere with 
a thorough comprehension of the same, and 
therefore should rarely cross or mingle with 
the lines. When necessarily grouped around 
a certain part, they should be placed at a little 
distance, vv^here there is available space, and 
connected by short broken lines with the parts 
to which they refer. They must never appear 
upon shaded surfaces, and when it is difficult 
to avoid this, a blank space must be left in the 
shading where the letter occurs, so that it shall 
appear perfectly distinct and separate from the 
work. If the same part of an invention ap- 
pears in more than one view of the drawing it 
must always be represented by the same char- 



86 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PAf ENTS 

acter, and the same character must never be 
used to designate different parts. 

(7) The signature of the inventor should be 
placed at the lower rig'ht-hand corner of each 
sheet, and the signatures of the witnesses at the 
lower left-hand corner, all within the marginal 
lines, but in no instance should they trespass 
upon the drawings. The title should be written 
w^ith pencil on the back of the sheet. The per- 
manent names and titles will be supplied sub- 
sequently by the office in uniform style. 

When views are longer than the width of 
the sheet, the sheet should be turned on its side, 
and the heading will be placed at the right 
and the signatures at the left, occupying the 
same space and position as in the upright 
vievvs, and being horizontal when the sheet is 
held in an upright position ; and all views on , 
the same sheet must stand in the same direc- 
tion. 

(8) As a rule, one view only of each invention 
can be shown in the Gazette illustrations. Tihe 
selection of that portion of a drawing best cal- 
culated to explain the nature of the specific 
improvement would be facilitated and the final 



AND INVENTIONS—HOW MADE. 87 

result improved by the judicious execution of 
a figure with express reference to the Gazette, 
but which might at the same time serve at one 
of the figures referred tO' in: the specification. 
For this purpose the figure may be a plan, ele- 
vation, section, or perspective view, according 
to the judgement of the draftsman. It must 
not cover a space exceeding 16 square inches. 
All its parts should be especially open and dis- 
tinct, with very httle or no shading, and it 
must illustrate the invention claimed only, to 
the exclusion of all other details. When well 
executed, it will be used without curtailment or 
change, but any excessive fineness, or crowd- 
ing, or unnecessary elaborateness of detail will 
necessitate its exclusion fromi the Gazette. 
(9) Drawings should be rolled for transmission 

to the office, not folded. 
4. All reissue applications must be accompanied 
by new drawings, of the character required in orig- 
iral apphcations, and the inventor's name mu^t ap- 
pear upon the same in all cases ; and such drawings 
shall be made upon the same scale as the original 
drawing, or upon a larger scale, unless a reduction 
of scale shall be authorized by the Commissioner. 



88 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

5. The foregoing rules relating to drawings will 
bt rigidly enforced. 

40. Q. What is a patent attorney? 

A. A patent attorney is a recognized practitioner 
before the Patent Office, possessed of the necessary 
qualihcations to prepare, present and prosecute ap- 
plications for patents. 

41. Q. Who employs' the patent attorney? 

A. The inventor employs the patent attorney 
and empowers him to represent him before the 
Patent Office by giving him an instrument in writ- 
ing called ''power of attorney" which the attorney 
files with the application. 

42. Q. Can the power of attorney be revoked? 
A. Yes; the inventor can revoke the power of 

attorney he has given tO' his attorney at any stage 
of the proceedings in the case, if he is not satisified 
with the attorney's services. 

43. O. How is the power of attorney revoked? 

A. By filing a ''revokation of power'' in the Pat- 
ent Office. Your next attorney will attend to that 
for you. 

44. Q. Who makes the patents? 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 89 

A. The patents are made by the patent attorneys, 
not by the Patent Office, as som;e suppose ; the official 
certificate of the Government grant with the offi- 
cial seal of the Patent Office is attached to the pat- 
ent the attorney has made out. The Patent Office 
has no right, even so much as to change one word 
in the patent without the written consent of the in- 
ventor or his attorney. It is for this reason that we 
see so many poorly described and badly worded pat- 
ents. 

45. Q. Can the Patent Offixe aid the inventor 
in the selection of a competent patent attorney ? 

A. No ; it cannot ; and in its Rules of Practice it 
advises the inventor tO' employ the services of the 
most competent attorney to represent him before the 
Patent Office. Inasmuch as the value of a patent 
depends largely upon the skillful preparation of the 
specification and the claims, the importance of 
employing a competent patent attorney cannot be 
overrated. Judging from the large number of re- 
jected applications and the commercially and legally 
worthless patents that are issued every year, it is 
safe to say that the number of incompetent attor- 
neys that are now practicing before the United 
States Patent Office is alarmingly great. The Com- 



go LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

missioner of Patents expresses his knowledge of 
the fact thus : ^''So many persons have entered this 
profession of late years, without experience [with- 
out a thorough and practical knowledge and qualifi- 
cations for the profession], that too much care can 
not l)e exercised in tlie selection of a competent 
man." This is mild enough, but sufficient to im- 
press the inventor with the importance of exercis- 
ing great care in the selection of a ''competent 
man.'' 

46. Q. What remedy lias the inventor if the 
attorney makes out a patent that is later impeached 
and vitiated in the courts for ambiguity or insuffi- 
cient specification or claims ? 

A. None whatever; the inventor must abide by 
the actions of his attorney. He has no legal remedy 
against him except, of course, in case of fraud. In- 
ventors should be very careful in the selection of a 
patent attorney. Place no credence in advertise- 
ments, highly colored hand books, soiiorous names 
of companies, and all offers to do somiething for 
nothing; these are, generally, cunningly devised 
delusions to ensnare the unsuspecting inventor. 

47. Q. What is the administration of the Pat- 
ent Office? 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 91 

A. The administration of tlie Patent Office is 
directed toward the examination of all the docu- 
ments of the application presented by the inven- 
tor's attorney (five in number) to see that they are 
prepared and presented in proper form as prescribed 
by law. The examiners examine the Patent Office 
records iii the class tO' which the invention apper- 
tains to find out whether the inventor does not 
claim more than he is legally entitled to (less does 
not trouble them). 

Applications filed in the Patent Office are classi- 
fied according to the various arts, and are taken up., 
for examination in regular order of filing, those in 
the samie class of inventions being examined and 
disposed of, as far as practicable, in the order in 
which the respective applications are completed. 

The following nevv^ applications have preference 
over all other new cases at every period of their 
examination in the order enumerated: 

I. Applications wherein the inventions are 
deemed of peculiar importance to some branch of 
the -public service, and when for that reason the 
head of some Department of the Government re- 
quests immediate action and the Commissioner so 
orders ; but in such cases it is the duty of such head 



92 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

of a Department to be represented before the Com- 
n:iissioner in order to prevent the improper issue 
of a patent. 

2. AppHcations for reissue. 

3. Applications which appear to interfere with 
other apphcations previously considered and found 
to be allowable, which it is deemed shall be placed 
ii: interference wath an unexpired patent or patents. 

The following applications, previously acted 
upon, will have preference over other business : 

1. Cases remanded by an appellate tribunal for 
further action and statements of grounds of deci- 
sions. 

2. Applications which have been put into condi- 
tion for further action by the examiner are entitled 
to precedence over new applications in the same 
class of invention. 

3. Applications which have been renewed or 
revived but the subject-matter not changed. 

4. When the inventor dies and' his executor 
or administrator files a new application for the same 
invention, the new application may be given the 
«ame status in the order of examination as the orig- 
inal 1)y order of the Commissioner. 

Inasmuch as applications cannot be examined out 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 93 

of their regular order, except in accordance with 
the foregoing provisions, and Members of Congress 
can neither examine nor act in patent cases, invent- 
ors sliould refrain from imposing upon Senators or 
Representatives labor which will consume their 
time without any advantageous results ; nor hasten 
their attorneys, for it is entirely beyond their con- 
trol ; they must invariably await their turn. Where 
the specification and the claims are such that the in- 
vention may be readily understood, the examina- 
tion of a complete application and the action is at 
once directed throughout to the merit of the case; 
but if the invention appears inoperative, lacks util- 
ity, or the application papers are not in proper 
form, or the application claims more than one inven- 
tion, these matters must be straightened out before 
any action will be taken on the merits. 

48. O. How does the examiner examine an 
application ? 

A. Every examiner has a complete digest df 
all the United States and foreign pat^ts of Ms 
class ; he has also access to the caveats, abandoned 
and forfeited applications, and all sorts of publi- 
cations, catalogues and pamphlets. When an ap- 
pHcation is examined all these patents, etc., are 



94 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

carefully inspected and compared with the draw- 
ings of the case under examination ; any part, feat- 
ure, effect, function, principle or combination of 
parts that is found in any of those patents or pub- 
lications which anticipates a claim or claims under 
examination depicting such is cited for reference 
and such claim or claims are rejected upon it; as 
such invention is no more ^^new and not known/' 
Often a number of patents is collectively cited 
against a single claim, or a number of claims is re- 
jected upon a single reference; but as the examiner 
does not stop to read the reference he cites, he often 
cites such that have little or no bearing on the 
claims he rejected. His idea is that if the claims re- 
jected upon the references are not met by the refer- 
ences the attorney will argue it out with him on the 
records; if the attorney fails to do so, the claims 
remain rejected. 

49. Q. Does the examiner reject all the claims 
of the application or only some of them? 

A. In a case in which the invention possesses 
some novelty, the broadest claims alone are at- 
tacked; if the narrov/ ones are in proper form' 
tliey are at once allowed. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 95 

50. Q. Does every patent have broad and nar- 
row claims ? 

A. Every good patent has, so that in case the 
patent is Htigated and the broadest claims are in- 
validated, there will still remain some claims in the 
patent to carry on business against competition. 

51. O. Since the broad claims are subject to in- 
validation, of what value are they to the; inventor? 

A. The broad claims alone secure the absolute 
monopoly of the invention to. the patentee. There 
i:. now a greater probability of such claims to be 
sustained by the courts than before, as inventions 
are now scrutinized, in the Patent Office, with the 
greatest care. The possibiHty of invalidation 
should never weaken the effort to secure the broad- 
est possible claims. 

52. O. How broad should claims be? 

A. As broad as the Patent Office will allow 
them. 

53- Q- ^"^ill the Patent Office allow very broad 
claims ? 

A, If it has no reference to cite against them, it 
must allow the claims, however broad they may be. 
54. O. What is a broad claim ? 



96 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

A. A claim that is so worded that the making of 
the invention 'by a person — other than the patentee 
— in any modified form, woiild be impossible with- 
out liability to the patentee. 

55. Q. Do claims rejected by the pxaminer re- 
main rejected? 

A. No; if the attorney in the case is an able 
and walling man, be will read the references, cited 
by the examiner, with the greatest care; and if the 
rejected claims are met in letter or spirit by the ref- 
erences, he will, in accordance with the law on the 
subject of Amendment and Actions, revise the re- 
jected claims just sufficiently to avoid the referen- 
ces, but will retain in them all the vitality it is pos- 
sible in view of the state of the art. If, however, 
ir his opinion, the references do not anticipate the 
invention he will use every possible argument to 
convince the examiner of his client's right to the 
rejected claims and thus secure their allowance. 

56. Q. What is meant by the words ''state of 
the art" ? 

A. The words ''state of the art" mean the con- 
dition of the class to which a certain invention ap- 
pertains. Any part of an invention found in its 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 97 

class shows that that part is no more new and 
therefore can not be claimed broadly. In other 
words, it shows that the state of the art has reached 
such a point that it embraces the novel part or feat- 
ure of the alleged invention. 

57. Q. What if the examiner should again re- 
ject the claims? 

A. The attorney will repeat the operation sev- 
eral times if necessary, until he secures the al- 
lowance of the rejected claims, remodeling the 
claims in accordance with the new references or 
reasons for rejection cited by the examiner. 

58. Q. Does the examiner cite new references 
at every action? 

A. If the attorney persists in his client's right 
to the claims, the examiner will make every possi- 
ble efifort to find new references against them, and 
he often does find them. 

59. Q. What would an incompetent attorney 
do if the claims were rejected upon certain refer- 
erices ? 

A. An imcompetent attorney usually presents 
such narrow claims in the first place that, except for 
informality, they are at once allowed, and if some of 



98 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

them are rejected he seldom makes an effort to re- 
gain them, but either patches them up carelessly 
just to please the examiner, or cuts them out en- 
tirely and lets the case go to allowance with the 
remaing few narrow claims. 

60. O. If the attorney should fail to make the 
claims to which his client is legally entitled, would 
not the examiner tell him or make him do so ? 

A. No; because the attorney is supposed to 
know the state of the art better than the examiner, 
and the law presupposes that if the attorney does 
not make the claims it is because he knows that 
his client is not entitled to^ them, or he does not 
think the invention of sufficient importance, or that 
he simply wishes to abandon that part of the inven- 
tion. 

61. Q. Is it not the duty of the Patent Office 
to look after the inventor's interests? 

A. No; it is the attorney's duty to look after 
the inventor's interests. The Patent Office repre- 
sents the grantor, the attorney represents the 
grantee, and the inventor gets such claims as the 
attorney is able and willing to make out of the 
examiners by contentions, arguments and convic- 
tions of his chent's right to them. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 99 

62. Q. In the matter of coiitention between the 
attorney and the examiner, who is to have the ben- 
efit of the doubt ? 

A. It has been decided that when the differ- 
ences of construction between the device claimed 
and the references cited against it are such that a 
doubt is raised as to w^hether it constituts a patent- 
able invention, the inventor should have the bene- 
fit of the doubt. 

63. Q. If the examiner insists that the claims 
are, without doubt, met by the references, wllile 
the attorney contends that his client is entitled to 
such claims, or the examiner has certain other rea- 
sons for rejecting the claims, and the contention be- 
tween the examiner and the attorney can not be 
settled, what remedy does the law provide? 

A. The law provides a remedy for it. It pre- 
scribes that any applicant for a patent, if any of 
the claims of his application have been twice re- 
jected for the same reasons, may, upon payment 
of a fee of $10, appeal from the decision of the 
primary examiner to the examiners-in-chief. The 
appeal must set forth in writing the points of 
the decision upon which it is taken, and must be 
signed by the applicant or his duly authorized 

L.ofC. 



100 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

attorney. The examiners-in-chief are persons of 
competent legal knowledg^e and scientific abiHty; 
it is their duty to review the reasons presented by 
both parties (the examiner and the attorney) to the 
contention, and decide upon the lines of law and 
justice. For full text of the rules governing ap- 
peals see answer to question 88 — Rules 41 to 58 
inclusive. 

64. Q. What is a combination claim? 

A. Virtually, ever)^ properly-drawn claim is a 
combination claim; but the term "combination 
claim'' is properly applied to a claim, in a patent 
for an improved article, w^hich is so worded as 
tc secure to the inventor the elements of the old 
structure of the article. By properly combining 
the elements of the old article with the elements 
of the invention, all similar improvements in such 
articles by others become impossible without lia- 
bility for infringement to the patentee. 

65. Q. Do the elements of the old article be- 
come the patentee's invention? 

A. No; the elements of the old structure be- 
come a part of his invention, but not his invention.. 

66. Q, Is such a claim of any importance? 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. loi 

A. Yes; such claims in patents for improve- 
ments on old articles are of the greatest impor- 
tance; in fact, they are the ''all-important'' claims, 
and should be drawn with the greatest care in 
both generic and specific terms; particularly when 
the improved feature is entirely dependent upon 
the old article. Take, for instance, an improved 
frying-pan handle, made hollow to prevent scorch- 
ing the fingers, by itself it would be practically use- 
less, but in conjunction with the frying-pan it per- 
forms a useful function — it prevents burning the 
fingers. 

67. Q. What material difference does it make 
whether the elements of the old article are a part 
of the patentee's invention or they are his inven- 
tion, as long as he can hold them by virtue of a 
properly constructed combination claim, as pre- 
viously noted? 

A. AH the difference in the world. The frying- 
pan referred to is marked ''patented" because it 
embodies an improved handle, but the word '^pat- 
ented" does not signify that the maker of this pan 
has alone the exclusive right to nvake, use, or vend, 
frying-pans, as would be the case if the frying-pan 
were his invention, but that he has the exclusive 



102 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

right to make, use, or vend frying-pans with cool 
handles. 

68. Q. If the frying-pan were the invention of 
one whose patent has not yet expired, would the 
Patent Office allow the cool-handle inventor such 
claims that would secure to him the frying-pan 
proper in conjunction with the cool handle ? 

A. Yes; the Patent Office will grant a patent 
upon a patent, if the latter patent contains some 
improvement over the former patent, and whether 
that improvement is a substantial part thereof or a 
mere addition thereto. 

69. Q. If so, then the coo'l-handle inventor 
would have the advantage over the frying-pan in- 
ventor, as the former's claims cover the latter's in- 
vention and secure to^ him' the use of the pan, while 
the latter' s claims do not cover the former's inven- 
tion. Is not that unjust? 

A. Most decidedly; it would be a great injus- 
tice to the first inventor if such were the laws on 
the subject. But the law is that if another person 
invent an improvement in a machine or thing he 
can entitle himself to a patent for the improvement 
only, and does not thereby acquire the right to use 
the original invention. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 103 

70. Q. In that event, of what benefit is a pat- 
ent for an improvement on a patented article? 

A. Of great benefit; the original invention is 
usually crude and of low efficiency, or complex and 
intricate, and therefore often a total commercial 
failure. The second inventor, who is improving 
upon the original invention, usually eradicates all 
the errors of the first inventor and renders the de- 
vice or article a commercial success. Thus, the 
first inventor, in order to make anything out of his 
invention, is compelled either to join forces with 
the second inventor or tO' buy him: out. If, however, 
the first inventor's patent is near expiration the sec- 
ond inventor may prefer to wait a year or two and 
then have the use of the original invention, if he does 
not care to join the first inventor. The second inven- 
tor usually gets the bigger end of the transaction in 
either case. There are hundreds of patents for im- 
prpvements on the original sewing machine, type- 
writer, bicycle, steam engine, and on most every 
original invention ever patented, and the succeed- 
ing inventors make more money out of their im- 
provements than their predecessors, and often of 
the original inventors. , 

71. Q. What is a generic claim.? 



104 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

A. A claim so' worded as to depict the principal 
noA^el elements and functions of the invention in 
comprehensive language, as the words ^'a cool-han- 
dle frying-pan/' would cover a frying-pan pro- 
vided with a wooden handle, a hollow sheet-iron 
handle, a coiled-wire handle, or a frying-pan with 
any other imaginable handle that would prevent 
scorching the fingers. 

72. Q. Since the law demands that each claim 
ill a patent shall be specific and distinct, how would 
the words ''cool handle'' include a wooden handle, 
vviien a hollow-sheet metal handle is shown and de- 
scribed ? 

A. The courts have decided that, although the 
patentee does not expressly claim equivalents, he 
is understood to embrace them, and by properly 
constructed claims does in contemplation em- 
brace them. It is understood, of course, that our 
assumption is that a wooden pan-handle has never 
been known or used before the inventor's invention 
of a cool handle; if it were, the word "metal" 
would have to be inserted in every claim and thus 
exclude the wooden handle from the claims. Any 
equivalent of a cool metal handle would then be dis- 
tinctly and specifically understood. 



AND INVENTTOKS— HOW MADE. 105 

7Z' Q- Why should the invention described in 
the specification be repeated in the claims ? 

A. As already remarked, in answer to question 
34, the claims are a summary of the novel features 
show^n in the drawings and described in the speci- 
fication. After the patent is issued, the inventor's 
rights are wholly restricted to the exact terms of 
the claims upon which his patent is based and which 
depicts his precise invention. It does not then mat- 
ter how original his invention was at the time his 
application Was filed, nor does it matter how broad 
is the application of his invention, how great and 
important is the benefit of his invention to man- 
kind, nor how simple and insignificant his inven- 
tion is. It is the precise construction (specific or 
generic) just as depicted in the claims that the pat- 
ent secures to the inventor, and no more. The pre- 
cise invention being summed up in the claims, the 
specification and the drawings are then referred to 
only for an explanation of the meaning of the 
terms used in the claims, which they interpret. 
The claims are thus the most material part of the 
patent and their preparation and prosecution 
should never be entrusted to one of questionable 
ability. 



io6 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

74. Q. Does it ever happen that an attorney 
cjaims more than his cHent is justly entitled to? 

A. Yes; quite frequently; for it is impossible 
for the attorney to know the state of the art without 
spending several days, and often weeks, in search- 
ing the records of the Patent Office, so a good at- 
torney makes the broadest claims possible and 
amongst them are often some tO' which the inventor 
is not entitled. 

75. Q. Can the inventor hold such claims? 

A. No; he can not; the law prescribes that 
whenever through inadvertance, mistake or acci- 
dent, and without any fraudulent or deceptive pur- 
pose, a patentee has claimed as his invention more 
than that of which he was the original inventor or 
discoverer, his patent shall be valid for all that is 
truly and justly his own, and he may make dis- 
claimer of such parts of the thing patented as he 
shall not choose toi claim or to hold by virtue of his 
patent. 

76. Q. When should such disclaimer be made? 

A. Disclaimer is usually made when the pat- 
entee is to sue for infringement upon his patent, or 
when he is sued by another for infringement upon 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. la; 

the other's rights. A disclaimer, to be effectual for 
all intents and purposes, must be filed in the Pat- 
ent Office before the suit is brought. Unless it is 
filed before the suit, the plaintiff will not be entitled 
to recover costs in such suit, even if he should es- 
tablish at the trial that a part of the invention not 
disclaimed had been infringed upoii by the defend- 
ant. But whether a disclaimer has been filed be- 
fore or after the suit is brought, the plaintiff will 
not be entitled to the benefit thereof if he has un- 
reasonably neglected or delayed to enter the same 
ac the Patent Office; but an unreasonable neglect 
or delay will not constitute a good defense and ob- 
jection to the suit. Under the former law a patent 
was void if the patentee claimed more than he had 
invented ; our present law is that the patent sihall ' 
be valid for all that part that is truly and justly 
the patentee's invention, and that he, the patentee, 
may, if he chooses so to do, make disclaimer of 
such parts of the thing patented as he shall not 
choose to claim or hold by virtue of his patent. 
Hence, he may or he may not disclaim the part that 
is not his own without invalidating his patent. 

77' Q- What is an infringement ? 

A. An infringement is an act of trespassing 



log tABOMSH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

upon the incorporeal right secured to the inventor 
by the grant of the patent. Any person who, with- 
out legal permission from the patentee or assignee, 
makes, uses, or sells to another to be used the 
thing which is the subject-matter of an existing 
patent within the boundaries of the United States, 
is guilty of infringement. 

The infraction of the exclusive privilege se- 
cured to the patentee by the grant of the patent is, 
however, a matter to be decided by the courts ; it 
being beyond the realm of the Patent Office. 

It is a rule in law that every violation of a pat- 
ent right imports some damage. However, the 
making of a patented machine or thing, to be an 
ofifense within the purview of the patent act, must 
• be for profit. If one makes a patented machine or 
thing for the mere purpose of philosophical ex- 
periments, or to ascertain the verity and exactness 
of the specification, or claims, no damages can be 
claimed therefor. 

78. Q. Where should action against an in- 
fringer be brought? 

A. Action against an infringer, must be 
brought in the United States Circuit Courts, which 
have jurisdiction of patent causes. The patentee 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 109 

can obtain an injunction compelling the infringer 
to stop such manufacture and sale, and to account 
for the profits already made. When the patent in 
issue -has already been litigated and sustained, a 
temporary injunction may be obtained at the begin- 
ning of the case before it has been decided on its 
m.erits. 

79. Q. How is a patent infringed upon? 

A. Every claim in a patent is practically a pat- 
ent by itself. An infringer upon a single claim of a 
patent is just as much liable for the infraction of 
that right as he would be if he had infringed upon 
all the claims of the patent. To constitute an in- 
fringement, however, the defendent must have used 
the same combination, construction and operating 
substantially in the same way as it is depicted in 
the claims (see answer to question 73). Hence, if 
one makes a complete machine or article that is 
operated precisely as the one covered bv a certain 
claim but omits one element of the combination as 
it is claimed, or constructs the article with the 
same number of elements but on a different princi- 
ple than that which is claimed (not of that as 
shown in the drawings, but which is claimed) , he 
is not guilty of infringement. But if one simply 



no LABOF'ISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

adds one or more elements to a combination of 
elements simimed up in a claim of a patent, without 
changing the operative principle of the machine as 
depicted in the claim, he is infringing upon that 
claim or patent (see answer to question 69). But 
a mere change in the mechanical incidents while re- 
taining the ''operative principle,'' if same is proper- 
ly covered by a claim, is an infringement in the 
true sense of the word. It is imperatively essen- 
tial to the successful maintenance of the exclusive 
right conferred by the patent that every patent 
shall have a large number of claims and that the 
claims thereof shall cover every effect, function, 
principle and detail of construction of the inven- 
tion and that the claims shall be so graded that it 
will be impossible for an infringer to omit a single 
element or slightly change the principle of the ma- 
chine or thing without liability to the inventor. 
But great care must be taken that every phase, 
function and construction of the invention is dis- 
tinctly defined in both the specification and claims, 
as a mere multiplication of nebulous claims is 
worse than useless. 

80. Q. What is an interference? 

A. An interference is a proceeding instituted 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. in 

for the purpose of determining* the question of 
priority between two or more parties claiming sub- 
stantially the same patentable invention; for it oc- 
casionally happens that the same invention is made 
by independent inventors at aiiproximately the same 
time. 

8i. Q. What arc proceedings in interference 
cases ? 

A. Proceedings in interference cases are in the 
nature of a contest in ecjuity, and the parties thereto 
are required, under proper rules, to take the evi- 
dence of witnesses touching the date when the con- 
testants first conceived the invention, reduced it to 
practice, etc. The one who first filed his applica- 
tion for a patent in the Patent Office is called the 
senior party to the interference and the other the 
junior party. 

82. Q. Upon which of these parties does the 
burden of proof rest ? 

A. The burden of proof rests upon the junior 
party to the interference. It is therefore of the 
utmost importance to the inventor to file his ap- 
plication for a patent as soon after he has con- 
ceived the idea as it is possible for him to do so, 



112 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

unless he has made a full-sized working machine of 
his invention, in which case he may take time to 
test its merits (see answer to question 13.) 

Interfering applications do not happen very fre- 
quently, but when they do happen they are very 
costly and troublesome things to handle. It is 
a curious fact that in most every instance each one 
of the parties to the interference insists that his 
opponent somehow got the idea from him 
and sticks to his groundless' assumption as 
the paper does to the wall, when in reality both par- 
ties are original inventors of the invention in con- 
troversy. Let it be remembered that only a skil- 
ful, shrewd and resourceful attorney is capable 
of conducting an interference case successfully; 
such an attorney will not undertake a case unless 
he is reasonably sure of success. Much depends 
upon the good judgment, care and ability of the 
attorney in examining witnesses; slips of the 
tongue are very fatal in such cases, as they can 
not be taken back; the alleged dates must be 
proven beyond the shadow of a doubt and every 
statement must be corroborated by witnesses or 
otherwise. Following is the full text of the Pat- 
ent Ofifice rules governing interference cases; these 



AND INVENTIONS--HOW MADE. 113 

should be read very thoughtfully before entering the 
contest and employing an attorney; they will 
greatly assist in gauging subsequent actions and 
movements in the case; they will also assist the 
reader to arrive at a decision as to whether or 
not it is feasible for him to enter the contest, 
as he will then know how he must prove his 
case: 

inte:rf^kri:nci:s. 

1. An interference is a proceeding instituted for 
the purpose of determining the question of priority 
of invention between two or more parties claiming 
substantially the same patentable invention. The 
fact that one of the partiesf has already obtained a 
patent will not prevent an interference, fo^r, al- 
though the Oomimissioner has no power to cancel 
a patent, he may grant another patent for the same 
invention to a person who proves to be the prior 
inventor. 

2. Interferences will be declared in the follow- 
ing cases, when all the parties claim substantially 
the same patentable invention: 

(i) Between two or more original applications 
containing conflicting claims. 



114 LABOFISH'S CATECHIvSM OF PATENTS 

(2) Between an orig-inal application and an un- 
expired patent containing conflicting claiims, 
when the apphcant, having been rejected on 
the patent, shall file an affidavit that he made 
the invention before the patentee's application 
was filed. 

(3) Between an original application and an ap- 
plication for the reissti'e of a patent granted 
during- the pendency of such original appli- 
cation. 

(4) Betw^een an original application and a re- 
issue application, when the original applicant 
shall file an affi.davit showing that he made 
the invention before the patentee's original ap- 
plication was filed. 

(5) Between two or more applications for the 
reissue of patents granted on applications 
pending at the same time. 

(6) Between two or more applications for the 
reissue of patents granted on applications not 
pending at the same time, when the applicant 
for reissue of the later patent shall file an affi- 
davit showing that he made the invention be- 
fore the application was filed on which the 
earlier patent was granted. 



And iNVfiN^ioNS— how made. 115 

(7) Between a reissue application and an unex- 
pired patent, if the original application was 
pending at the same time, and the reis^e ap- 
plicant shall file an affidavit showing that he 
made the invention before the original appli- 
cation of the other patentee was filed. 

(8) Betweeiii an application for reissue of a 
later unexpired patent and an earlier unex- 
pired patent granted before the original appli- 
cation of the later patent was filed, if the reis- 
sue applicant shall file an affidavit showing 
that he made the invention before the original 
application of the earlier patent was filed. 

3. Before the declaration of interference all pre- 
liminary questions must be settled by the primary 
examiner, and the issue must be clearly defined; 
the invention which is to form the subject o-f con- 
troversy must be decided to be patentable, and the 
claims of the respective parties must be put in such 
condition that they will not require alteration after 
tlie interference shall have been finally decided, un- 
less the testimony adduced upon the trial shall ne- 
cessitate or justify such change. 

4. Whenever two or more applieations disclose 
the same invention, and one of said applications is 



ii6 LABOFISH'S GATECHISM OF PATENTS 

ready for allowance and contains a claim to said 
invention^ the primary examiner will notify the 
other applicant of such fact, furnish him with a 
copy of the patentable claim, and require him to 
make such claim and put his case in condition for 
allozvance zvithin a specified time, so that an inter- 
ference can be declared. Upon the failure of any 
applicant to make the claim suggested within the 
time specified, such failure or refusal shall be taken 
zvithout further action as a disclaimer of the in- 
vention covered by the claim, and the issue of the 
patent to the applicant zvhose application is in con- 
dition for allozvance will not be delayed unless the 
time for making the claim and putting the appli- 
cation in condition for allowance be extended upon 
a proper showing. If a party make the claim with- 
out putting his application in condition for allow^ 
ance^ the declaration of interference will not be de- 
layed, but after judgment of priority the application 
of such party zmll be held for revision and restric- 
tion, subject to interference zuith other applications. 
' 5. When an interference is found to exist and 
the appHcations are prepared therefor, the primary 
examiner will forward to the examiner of interfer- 
ences the files and drawings; notices of interfer- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 117 

ence for all the parties (as specified in Rule 11) 
disclosing the name and residence of each party 
and that of his attorney, and of any assignee, and, 
if any party be a patentee, the date and number of 
the patent; the ordinals of the conflicting claims 
and the invention claimed; and the issue, which 
shall be clearly and concisely defined in so many 
counts or branches as may be necessary in order to 
include all interfering claims. Where the issue is 
stated in more than one count the respective 
claims involved in each count should be specified. 
The primary examiner shall also forward to the ex- 
aminer oif interferences for his use a statement dis- 
closing the applications involved in interference, 
fully identified, the name and residence of any as- 
signee, and the names and residences of all attor- 
neys, both principal and associate, and arranged in 
the inverse chronological order of their filing as 
completed applications, and also disclosing the issue 
or issues and the ordinals of the conflicting claims. 
Whenever it shall be found that two or more 
parties who-se interests are in conflict are repre- 
sented by the same attorney, the examiner will no- 
tify each of said principal parties, and also the at- 
torney, of this fact. 



ii8 LAfiOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

6. Upon receipt of the notices of interference, 
the examiner of interferences will make an exami- 
nation thereof, in order to ascertain whether the is- 
sue between the parties has been clearly defined, 
and whether they are otherwise correct. If he be 
of the opinion that the notices are ambigaious or 
are defective in any material point, he will transmit 
his objections to the primary examiner, who will 
promptly notify the examiner of interferences of 
liis decision to amend or not tO' amend them. 

7. In case of a material disagreement between 
the examiner of interferences and the primary ex- 
aminer, the points of difference shall be referred to 
the Commissioner for decision. 

8. The primary examiner will retain jurisdiction 
of the case until the declaration of interference is 
made. 

9. Upon the institutioii and declaration of the 
interference, as provided in Rule 10, the examiner 
of interferences will take jurisdiction of the same, 
which will then become a contested case; but the 
primary examiner will determine the motions men- 
tioned in Rule 30, as therein provided. 

10. When the notices of interference are in 
proper form, the examiner of interferences w^ill 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 119 

add thereto- a designation; of the time within which 
the preiiminary statements required by Rule 18 
must be filed, and will, pro forma, institute and 
declare the interference by forwarding' the notices 
to the several parties- to the proceeding. 

11. The U'Otices of interference will be for- 
warded by the examiner of interferences to- all the 
parties, in care of their attorneys, if they have at- 
torneys, and, if the application or patent in inter- 
ference has been assigned, to the assigniees. When 
one of the parties has received a patent, a notice 
will be sent to the patentee and to his attorney of 
record. 

When the notices sent in the interest of a patent 
are returned to the office undelivered, or when one 
of the parties resides abroad and his agent in the 
United States is unknown, additional notice may 
be given by publication in the Official Gazette for 
such period of timie as the Commissioner may 
direct. 

12. If either party require a postponement of 
the time for filing his preliminary statement, he 
will present his motion, duly served on the other 
parties, with his reasons) therefor, supported by 
affidavit, and such motion should be made, if pos- 



120 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

sible, prior to the day previously fixed upon. 
But the examiner of interferences may, in his dis- 
cretion, dispense with service of notice of such 
motion. 

13. When an application is involved in an inter- 
ference in which a part only of the invention is 
included in the issue, the applicant may file cer- 
tified copies' of the part or parts of the specification, 
claims, and drawings which cover the interfering 
matter, and such copies may be used in the pro- 
ceeding in place of the original application. 

14. When a part only of an application is in- 
volved in an interference, the applicant may with- 
draw from his application the subject-matter ad- 
judged not to interfere, and file a new application 
therefor, or he may file a divisional application for 
the subject-matter involved, if the invention can 
be legitimately divided : Provided , That no 
claim shall be made in either application broad 
enough to include matter claimed in the other. 

15. An applicant involved in an interference 
may, with the written consent of the assignee, 
when there has been an assignment, before the date 
fixed for the filing of his preliminary statement 
(see Rule 18), in order to avoid the continuance of 



AND INVENTIONS-IIOW MADE. 121 

the interference, disclaim under his own signature, 
attested by two witnesses, the inventioiu of the par- 
ticular matter in issue, and upon such disclaimer 
and the cancellation of any claims involving" such 
interferinig* matter judgment shall be rendered 
against him, and a copy O'f the disclaimer shall be 
eml)odied In ancj form part of his specification. 

J 6. When ap[)lications' are declared toi be in in- 
terference, the interfering parties will be permitted 
to see or obtain co])ies ot each other's file-wrappers, 
tind so iuuch of their contents as relate to the inter- 
ference, after the preliminary statements referred 
t( in Rule 18 have been received and approved; 
l)ut information of an application will not be fur- 
nished by the office tO' an opposing party, except as 
provided in Rules 5 and 11, until after the appro'val 
of such statement. 

17. When an apph' cation is involved in an inter- 
ference in part and shows and descri1>es, without 
claiming a patentable invention claimed by another 
party thereto, the applicant may, at any time with- 
in twenty days after the preliminary statements 
(referred to in^ Rule 18) of the parties have been 
received and approved, .on motion duly made, as 
provided in Rule 61, file an amendment of his ap- 



122 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

plication duily claiming such invention, and on the 
admission of such amendment the invention shall 
be included in the interference. Such motion must 
be accompanied b}^ the proposed! amendment, and 
when in proper form will be transmitted by the ex- 
aminer of interferences to the primary examiner 
for his determination. In case the amendment 
shah be admitted, the primary examiner wiU re- 
declare the interference, prepare new notices, and 
forward the papers and files to the examiner of in- 
terferences, who' will proceed in accordance with 
Rule II. The decision Oif the primary examiner 
w4n be binding upon the examiner of interferences, 
unless reversed or modified on appeal, as provided 
in Rule 32. 

18. Each party to the interference will be re- 
quired tO' file a concise preliminary statement, un- 
der oath, on or before a date to be fixed by the of- 
fice, showing the following facts : 

(i) The -date of original conception oi the in- 
vention set forth in the declaration of inter- 
ference. 
(2) The date upon whigh a drawin-g of the in- 
vention was made. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 123 

(3) The date upoaa which a model of the inven- 
tion was made. 

(4) The date upon which the invention was 
first disclosed to others. 

(5) The date of the reduction to practice of the 
linvention. 

(6) A s'tatement showing the extent O'f use of 
the invention. 

If a drawing or model has not been made, or if 
the invention has not been reduced to practice or 
disclosed to others, or used to any extent, the 
statement must specifically disclo'Se these facts. 

When the invention was made abroad the state- 
micnt should set forth: 

( 1 ) That applicant made the invention set 
forth in the declaration of interference. 

(2) Whether or not the invention was ever pat- 
ented; if so, when and where, giving the date 
and number of each patent, tlie date of piibli- 
cation^ and the date of sealing thereof. 

(3) Whether or not the invention was ever de- 
scribed in a printed publication ; if so, when 
and where, giving the title, place, and date of 
such publication. 

(4) Whether or not the invention was ever in- 

# 



124 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

troduced into this country; if so, giving the 

circumstances, with the dates connected there- 

Avith, which are rehed upon to estabHsh the 

fact. 

The prelimiinairy statements should be carefully 

prepared, as the parties will be strictly held in their 

proofs to the dates set up therein. 

// a party prove any date earlier than alleged in 
his preliminary statement ^ such proof will he held 
to establish the date alleged and none other. 

The statement must be sealed up before filing (to 
be opened only by the examiner of interf erenices ; 
see Rule 19) and the name of the party filing it, the 
title of the case, and the subject of the invention 
indicated on the envelope. The envelope should 
contain nothing but this statement. 

19. The preliminary statements shall not be 
opened to the inspection of the opposing parties 
until each one shall have been filed, or the time for 
such filing, with any extension thereof, shall have 
expired, and not then tmless they have been ex- 
amined by the proper officer and found to be satis- 
factory. 

Any party in default in filing his preliminary 
statement shall not have access to the preliminary 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 125 

statement or statements of his opponent or oppo- 
nents until he has either filed his statement or 
waived his right thereto, and agreed to. stand upon 
his record date. 

20. If, on examination, a statement is found to 
be defective in any particular, the party shall 
be notified of the defect and wherein it consists, and 
a timie assigned within which he must cure the 
same by an amended statement ; but in no case will 
the original or amended statement be returned to 
the party after it has been filed. Unopened state- 
ments zvill he removed front interference Hies and 
preserved by the offiec^ and in no case zvill such 
statements be open to the inspection of the oppos- 
ing party zvithout authority from the Commission- 
er. If a party shall refuse to file an amended state- 
ment, he will be restricted to his record date in the 
further proceedings in the interference. 

21. In case of material error arising through in- 
advertence or mistake, the statement may be cor- 
rected on motion (see Rule 61), upon showing to 
the satisfaction of the Oommissioner that the cor- 
rection is essential to the ends of justice. The mo- 
tion to correct the statement must be made, if pos- 
3ible, before the taking of any testimony, and as 



126 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

soon as practicable after the discovery of the error. 

22. If the junior party tO' an interference, or if 
any party thereto' other than the senior party, fail 
to file a statement, or, if his statement fail to over- 
come the prima facie case made by the respective 
dates of application, judgment against such party 
may be rendered upon the recdrd, and the interfer- 
ence will proceed between the remaining parties. 
Within the period fixed as a limit of appeal from 
such jud'gment, said party may bring' any of the 
motions permitted by the rules, provided he has not 
waived his right of appeal. The filing of such a mo- 
tion, noticed for hearing within the limits of ap- 
peal, will operate to stay the running of the time 
so limited until the final determination of the mo- 
tion. 

23. If a party to an interference fail to file a 
statement, testimony will not be received subse- 
quently from him to prove that he made the in- 
vention at a date prior to his application. 

24. In original proceedings in cases of interfer- 
ence the several parties will be presumed to have 
made the in\^entioii in the chironological order in 
which they filed their complete applications* for 
patents clearly illustrating and describing the in- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 127 

vention; and the burden of proof will rest upon the 
party who shall seek to estatblish a different state 
of facts. 

25. The prehminary statement can in no case be 
used as evidence in behalf of the party making it. 

26. Times will be assigned in which the junior 
applicant shall complete his testimony in chief, and 
in which the other party shall complete the testi- 
mony on his side, and a further time in which the 
junior applicant may take rebutting testimony; but 
he shall take no other testimony. If there be more 
than two parties to the interference, the times for 
taking the testimony will be so- arranged that each 
shall have an opportunity to prove his case against 
prior applicants and to rebut their evidence, and 
also to meet the evidence of junior applicants. 

27. Whenever the time for taking the testimiony 
of a party to- an interference shall have expired, and 
no testimony shall have been taken by such 
party, any senior party may, by motion based 
on a showing properly verified and served 
on such party in default, have an order en- 
tering judgment against such defaulting party, un- 
less the latter shall, at a day set and not less than 
ten days after the hearing of the motion, show 



128 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

good anid sufficient cause why the judgment shall 
not be entered. 

28. If either party desire to have the hearing 
continued, he will make application for such post- 
ponement by motion (see Rule 61), and will show 
sufficient reason therefor by affidavit. 

29. If either party desire an extension of the 
time assigned to him for taking testimony, he will 
make application therefor, as provided in Rule 62 

(4). 

30. Motions to dissolve an interference upon the 
ground that no interference in fact exists, or that 
there has been such irregularity in declaring the 
same as will preclude a proper determination of the 
question of priority, or which deny the patentabil- 
ity of an applicant's claim, or his right to make the 
claim, should, if possible, be made not later than 
the twentieth day after the statements of the par- 
ties have been received and approved. Such mo- 
tions, and all motions of a similar character, should 
be accompanied by a motion to transmit the same 
to the primary examiner, and such motion to trans- 
miit should be noticed for hearing upon a day cer- 
tain before the examiner of interferences. When 
in proper form the motion presented will be trans- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 129 

initted by the examiner of interferences, with the 
files and papers, to the proper primary examiner 
for his determination, who will thereupon fix a day 
certain when the saii'd motion will be heard before 
him upoin the merits, and give notice thereo-f to 
all parties. If a stay of proceedings be desired, a 
motion therefor shoulid accompany the motion for 
transmission. 

When the motion has been decided by the pri- 
m.ary examiner, if no appeal has' been taken there- 
from, at the expiration of the time limited for ap- 
peal the examiner will return the files and papers, 
with his decision, to the examiner O'f interferences. 
Such decision will be binding on the examiner of 
interferences unless reversed or modified on ap- 
peal. (Rule 32.) 

31. All lawful motions, except those mentioned 
iij Rule 30, will be made before and determined by 
the tribunal having jurisdiction at the time. The 
filing of motions will not operate as a stay of pro- 
ceedings in any case. To effect this, motion should 
be made before the tribunal having jurisdiction of 
the interference, who will, sufficient grounds ap- 
pearing therefor, order a suspension of the inter- 
ference pending the determination of such motion. 



130 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM 01^ PATeINTS 

32. Appeal may be taken directly to the Com- 
missioner from decisions of the primary examiner 
oil all motions except the following : ( i ) On mo- 
tions toi dissolve which deny the patentability of ap- 
pHcant's' claim; (2) on motions to dissolve which 
deny the right of an applicant to make the claim ; 
(3) on motions involving the merits of the inven- 
tion. Decisions on these motions, when appealable, 
go to the examiners-in-chief, in the first instance, 
and upon such appeals the questions shall be heard 
inter partes. 

From a decision of the primary examiner affirm- 
ing the patentability of the claim or the applicant's 
right to make the same no appeal can be taken. 

33. After the interference is finally declared, it 
will not, except as herein otherwise provided, be 
determined without judgment of priority founded 
either upon the testimony, or upon a written con- 
cession of priority by one of the parties, signed by 
the inventor himself (and by the assignee, if any), 
or upon a written declaration of abandonment of 
the invention. 

34. The examiner of interferences or the exam- 
iners-in-chief may, either before or in their deci- 
sion on the question of priority, direct the attention 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 131 

of the Oommissioiier tO' any matter not relating to 
priority which may have come to^ their notice, and 
which, in their opinion, estabhshes the fact that no 
interference exists, or that there has been irregular- 
ity in declaring the same (Rule 30), or which 
amounts to a statutory bar to the grant of a patent 
tc either of the parties for the claim or claims in in- 
terference. The Commissioner may, before judg- 
ment on the c[uestion of priority^ suspend the inter- 
ference and remand the case to the primary exam- 
iner for his consideration of the matters tO' which 
attention has been directed. From the decision of 
the examiner appeal may be taken as in other cases; 
If the case shall not be so remanded, the primary 
examiner will, after judgment, consider any matter 
affecting the rights of either party tO' a patent 
which may have been called to his attention, unless 
the same shall have been previously disposed of by 
the Commissioner. 

35. A second interference will not be declared 
upon a new apphcataion for the same invention 
filed by either party. 

36. If, during the pendency of an interference, a 
reference be found, the interference may be sus- 
pended at the request of the primary examiner until 



132 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

the final determination of the pertinency and effect 
of the reference and the interference shall then be 
dissolved or continued as the result of such deter- 
mination. The consideration of such reference 
shall be inter partes, 

37. If, during the pendency of an interference, 
another case appear, claiming substantially the sub- 
ject-matter in issue, the primary examiner shall 
request the suspension of the interference for the 
purpose of aiding said case. Such sus- 
pension will be granted as a matter of course 
by the examiner of interferences if no tes- 
timony has been taken. If, however, any 
testimony has been taken, a notice for the pro- 
posed new party, disclosing the issue in inter- 
ference and the names and addresses of the inter- 
ferants and of their attorneys, and notices for the 
interferants disclosing the name and address of the 
said party and his attorney, shall be prepared by the 
primary examiner and forwarded to the examiner 
of interferences, who shall mail said notices and 
set a time of hearing on the question of the admis- 
sion of the new party. If the examiner of inter- 
ferences be of the opinion that the interference 
should be suspended and the new party added, h^ 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 133 

shall prescribe the terms' for such suspension. The 
decision of the examiner of interferences as to the 
addition of a party shall be final. 

38. Amendments to the specification will not be 
received during' the pend'ency of an interference, 
except as provided in Rules 14, 15, 17. 

39. When, oil motion duly made and upon satis- 
factory proof, it shall be shown that, by reason of 
the inability or refusal of the inventor to prosecute 
01 defend an interference, or from other cause, the 
ends of justice require that an assignee of an undi- 
vided interest in the invention should be permitted 
to prosecute or defend the same, the Oommissioner 
may so order. 

40. Whenever an award of priority has been 
rendered in an interference proceeding by any tri- 
bunal and the limit of appeal from such decision 
has expired, and whenever an interference has been 
terminated by reason of the written coucession, 
signed by the applicant in' person, of priority of in- 
vention in favor of his opponent or oppoinenits, the 
primary examiner shall advise the defeated or un- 
successful party or parties to the interference that 
their claim or claims which were so involved in the 
issue stand finally rejected. 



134 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

APPEAI^S. 

41. Every applicant for a patent, any of the 
claims oi whoise application have been twice re- 
jected for the same reasons, upon grounds involv- 
ing the merits of the invention, such as lack of in- 
vention, novelty, or utility, or on the ground of 
abandonment, public use or sale, inoperativeness 
of invention, aggregation of elements, incomplete 
combination of elements, or, when amended, for 
want of identity with the invention originally dis- 
closed, or because the am^endment involves a de- 
parture from the invention originally presented; 
and every applicant for the reissue of a patent 
whose claims have been twice rejected for any of 
the reasons above enumerated, or on the ground 
that the original patent is not inoperative or in- 
valid, or if so inoperative or invalid that the errors 
which rendered it so did not arise from inadver- 
tence, accident, or mistake, may, upon payment of a 
fee of $10, appeal from the decision of the primary 
examiner to the examiners-in-chief. The appeal 
must set forth in writing the points of the de- 
cision upon which it is taken, and must be signed 
by the applicant or his duly authorized attorney or 
agent, 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. i35 

42. There must have been two rejections of the 
claims as oTiginally filed, or, if amended in matter 
of substance, of the amended claims, and all the 
claims must have been passed upion, and all prelim- 
inary and intermediate questions relating to mat- 
ters not affecting the merits of the invention set- 
tled, before the case can be appealed to the exam- 
iners-in-chief. 

43. Upon the filing of the appeal the same 
shall be submitted to the primary examiner, who, if 
he find it to be regular in form, shall, within five 
days from the filing thereof, furnish the examin- 
ers-in-chief with a written statement of the grounds 
of his decision on all the points' involved in the ap- 
peal, with copies of the rejected claims and with the 
references applicable th'ereto. The examiner shall 
at the time of making such statement furnish a copy 
of the same to the appellant. If the primary exam- 
iner shall decide that the appeal is not regular in 
form, a petition from such decision may be taken 
directly to the commissioner, as provided in Rule 
53- 

44. The appellant shall, before the day of hear- 
ing, file a brief of the authorities and arguments on 
which he will rely to maintain his appeal. 



136 LABOFTSH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

45. If the appellant desire tO' be heard oraMy be- 
fore the examiners-in-chief, he will so indicate 
when_ he files his appeal ; a day of hearing will then 
be fixed, and due notice of the same given him. 

46. In contested cases the appellant shall have 
tlie right to make the opening and closing argu- 
ments, unless it shall be otherwise ordered by the 
tribunal having jurisdiction of the case. 

47. (a) The examiners-in-chief in their decision 
will afiirm or reverse the decision of the primary 
examiner only on the points on which appeal shall 
have been taken. ( See Rule 41.) Should, they dis- 
cover any apparent grounds not involved in the ap- 
peal for granting or refusing letter's patent in the 
form claimed, or any other form, they will annex 
to their decision a statement tO' that efifect, with such 
recommendation as they shall deem proper. 

(b) From an adverse judgment of the primary 
examiner 011 points embraced in the recommenda- 
tion annexed to the decisiion, appeal may be taken 
on questions involving the merits to the board of 
examiners-in-chief and on other questions to the 
Commissioner as in other cases. 

(c) The Commissioner may, when an appeal 
from the decision of the examiners-in-chief is taken 



AND INVENTIONS—HOW MADE. 137 

tc' bim, reiiiand the case to the primary examiner, 
either before or after final judgment, for considera- 
tion of any amendiment or action which may be 
basdd on the recommendation annexed to the de- 
cision of the examiners-in-chief. 

(d) If the Commissioner, in reviewing the de- 
cision of the examiners-in-chief, discovers any ap- 
parent grounds for granting or refusing letters pat- 
ent not invoived in the appeal, he will, before or af- 
ter final judgment, and whenever in his opinion 
substantial justice shall require it, give reasonable 
notice thereof to the parties; and if any amendmenf 
or action based thereon be proposed, he will remand 
the case to the primary examiner for consideration. 

(e) From the decision of the primary examiner. 
in cases remanded as herein provided, appeal will 
lie to the board of examiners-in-chief, or directly to 
the Commissioner, as in other cases. 

48. From th'e adverse decision of the boai'd of 
examiners-in-chief appeal may be taken to the 
Commissioner in person, upon payment of the fee 
of $20 required by law. 

49. If affidavits be received after the case has 
been appealed, the application will be remanded to 
the primary examiner for reconsideration. 



138 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

50. Cases which have been heard and decided by 
the Commissioner on appeal will not be reopened 
except by his order; cases which have been decided 
by the examiners-in-ohief will not be reheard by 
them, when no longer pending before them, without 
the written authority of the Commissioner; and 
cases which have been decided by either the Com- 
missioner or the examiners-in-chief will not be re- 
opened by the primary examiner without like, au- 
thority, and then only for the consideration of mat- 
ters not already adjudicated upon, sufficient cause 
being shown. 

51. Contested cases will be regarded as pending 
before a tribunal' until the hmit of appeal, which 
must be fixed, has expired, or until some action has 
been had which waives the appeal or carries into ef- 
fect the decision from which appeal might have 
been taken. 

Ex parte cases decided by an appellate tribunal 
will, after decision, be remanded at once to the pri- 
mary examiner, subject to the applicant's right of 
appeal, or such action as wall carry into effect the 
decision, or for such further action as the applicant 
is entitled to demand. 

52. Cases which have been d.eliberately decided 



ANb iNVENTlONS-^tlOW MADE. ij9 

by one Oomniissioner will not be reconsidered by 
his successor except in accordance with the princi- 
ples w^hich gfovern the granting of new trials. 

53. Upon receiving a petition stating concisely 
and clearl)^ any proper question which has been 
twice ac^ed upon by the examiner, and which does 
not ln^^^lve'1:he merits of the invention claimed, or 
the rejection of a claim, and alsoi stating the facts 
involved and the point or points to be reviewed, 
an order will be made fixing a time for hearing such 
petition iy the Commissioner, and directing the ex- 
aminer to furnish a written statement of the 
grounds of his decision upon the matters averred 
in such petition within five days after being notified 
of the order fixing the day of hearing. The exam- 
iner shall at the time of making such statement fur- 
nish a copy thereof to the petitioner. No fee is re- 
quired foijL^uch a petition. 

54. In mterference cases parties have the same 
remedy l^y appeal to the examiners-in-chief, to the 
Commissioner, and to the court of appeals of the 
District of Colunnbia, as in ex parte cases. 

55. Appeals in interference cases must be ac- 
companied by brief statements of the reasons there- 
for. Parties will be required to file six copies of 



140 LABOFISH'S CAI'ECHISM OF PATENT^ 

printed briefs of their arguments, the appellant five 
clays' before the hearing and the appellee one day. 

56. From the adverse decision of the Commis- 
sioner upon the claims of an application and in in- 
terference cases, an appeal may be taken to the 
court of appeal's of the District of Columbia in the 
manner prescribed by the rules of that court. 

57. When an appeal is taken to the court of ap- 
peals of the District of Columbia, the appellant will 
give notice thereof to the Commissioner, and file in 
the Patent Ofiice, within forty days, exclusive of 
Sundays and holidays^ from the date of the decision 
appealed from, his reasons of appeal specifically set 
forth in writing. 

58. Pro forma proceedings will not be had in the 
Patent Office for the purpose of securing to appli- 
cants an appeal to the court of appeals of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. 

HE^ARINGS AND INTe:rVIE:wS. 

59. Hearings will be had by the Commissioner at 
10 o'clock a. m., and by the board of examiners-in- 
chief and the examiner of interferences at i o'clock 
p. m., on the day appointed, unless some other hour 
br-^ specially designated. If either party in a con- 



And inventions— how made. t4t 

tested case^ o^r the appellant in an ex parte case, ap- 
pear at the proper time, he will be heard. After the 
day of hearing, a contested case will not be taken up 
for oral argument except by consent of all parties. 
If the engagements of the tribunal having juris- 
diction are such as to prevent the case from being 
taken up on the day of hearing, a new assignment 
will be made, or the case will be continued from day 
to day until heard. Unless it shall be otherwise or- 
dered before the hearing begins, oral arguments 
will be limited to one hour for each party in con- 
tested cases, and to one-half hoiu* in other cases. 
After a contested case has been argued, nothing 
further relating thereto will be heard unless upon 
request of the tribunal having jurisdiction of the 
case ; and all interviews for this purpose with par- 
ties in interest or their attorneys will be invariably 
denied. 

60. Interviews with examiners coiicerning appli- 
cations and other matters pending before the of- 
fice must be had in the examiners' room at such 
times, within office hours, as the respective exam- 
iners may designate; in the absence of the pri- 
mary examiners, with the assistant in charge. In- 
terviews will not be permitted at any other time or 



142 LABOF'ISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENfg 

place wi-thout the written authority of the Commis- 
sioiier. Inter\dews for the discussion of pending 
apphcations will not be had prio'r to the first offi- 
cial action thereon. 

MOTIONS. 

6i. In contested cases reasonable notice of all 
motions, and copies of motion-papers and affidavits, 
must be served, as provided in Rule 62 (2.) Proof 
of such service must be made before the motion 
will be entertained by the office. Motions will not 
be heard in the absence of either party except 
upon default after due notice. Motions will be 
heard in the first instance l3y the officer or tribunal 
before whom the particular case may be pending; 
but an appeal from the decision rendered may be 
taken on questions invoh' ing the merits of the case 
to the boa-rd of examiners-in-chief ; on other ques- 
tions, directly to the Commissioner. In original 
hearings on motions the moving parties shall have 
the right to make the opening and closing argu- 
ments. In contested cases the practice on points to 
which the rules shall not be apphcable will conform, 
as near as possible, to that of the United States 
courts in equity proceedings. 



AND INVENTIONS'-HOW MADE. 143 

TESTIMONY IN INTE:Ri^£:Ri:NCE:s AND OTHl^R CON- 

te:ste:d cAsi^s. 

62. The following* rules have been established 
for taking and transmitting testimony in interfer- 
ences and other contested cases : 

(i) Before the depositions of witnesses are 
taken by either party due notice shall be given 
to the oppO'S'ing party, as hereinbefore pro- 
vided, of the time when and place where the 
depositions will be taken, of the cause or mat- 
ter in w^hich they are to be used, and of the 
names and residences of the witnesses' to be ex- 
amined, and the opposing party shall have full 
opportunity, either in person or by attorney, to 
cross-examine the w^itnes'ses. If the opposing 
party shall attend the examination O'f witnesses 
not named in the notice, and shall either cross- 
examine such w^itnesses or fail to object to 
their examination, he shall be deemed to have 
waived his right to object to such examina- 
tion for want of notice. Neither party shall 
take testimony in more than one place at the 
same time, nor so nearly at the same time that 



144 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

reasonable opportunity for travel from one 
place of examination to the other can not be 
bad. 
(2) The notice for taking testimony or for mo- 
tions must be served (unless otherwise stipu- 
lated in an instrumient in writing filed in the 
case) upon the attorney of record, if there-be 
one, or, if there be no attorney of record, upon 
the adverse party. Reasoniable time must be 
given therein for such adverse party tO' reach 
the place of examinatioii. Service of such no- 
tice may be in either of the following ways: 
( I ) By delivering a copy of the notice to the 
adverse party or his attorney; (2) by leaving 
a copy at the usual place of business of the ad- 
verse parity or his attorney with some o^ne in 
his employment ; (3) when such adverse party 
or his attorney has no usual place of business, 
by leaving a copy at iiis residence, with a mem- 
l>er of his family over fourteen years O'f age 
and of discretion; (4) transmission by regis- 
tered letter; (5) by express. Whenever it 
shall be satisfactorily shown to' the Commis- 
sioner that neither of the above modes of ob- 
taining or reserving notices is practicable, the 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 145 

notice may be published in the Official Gazette. 
Such notice shall, with sworn prooif of the fact, 
timie, and mode of service thereof, be attached 
to the deposition or depositions whether the 
opposing- party shall have croiss-examined or 
not. 
(3) Each witness before testifying shall be duly 
sworn according tO' law by the officer before 
whom his deposition shall be taken. The de- 
position shall be carefully read over by the wit- 
ness, or by the officer to him, and shall then be 
subscribed by the witness in the presence of 
the officer. The officer shall annex to the de- 
position his certificate showing- (i) the due 
administration of the oath by the officer to the 
witness before the comiiiencement of his tes- 
timony; (2) the name of the person by whom 
the testimony was written out, and the fact 
that, if not written by the officer, it w^as writ- 
ten in his presence; (3) the presence or ab- 
sence of the adverse party ; (4) the place, day, 
and hour of commencing and taking the de- 
position; (5) the reading by, or to, each wit- 
ness of his deposition before he signs the 
same; and (6) the fact that the officer was 



146 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

not connected by blood or marriage with either 
of the parties, nor interested, directly or in- 
directly, in the matter in controversy. The 
ofificer shall sign the certificate and affix there- 
to his seal of office, if he have such seal. He 
shall then, without delay, securely seal up all 
the evidence, notices, and paper exhibits, in- 
scribe upon the envelope a certificate giving the 
'title of the case, the name of each witness, and 
the date of sealing, address the package, and 
forward the same to the Commissioner^ Pat- 
ents. If the weight or bulk oi an exhibit shall 
exclude it from the envelope, it shall 
be authenticated by the officer and transmitted 
in a separate package, marked and addressed 
as above provided. 
(4) If a party shall be unable to take any testi- 
mony within the tmie limited, and desires an 
extension for such purpose, he must file a mo- 
tion, accompanied by a statement under oath 
setting forth specifically the reason why such 
testimony has not been taken, and distinctly 
averring that such motion is made in good 
faith, and not for the purpose of delay. If 
either party shall be unable to procure the tes- 



Aisrb INVENtiONS—HOW MAbE. 147 

timoiiy of a witness or witnesses within the 
time Itimited, and desires an extension for 
such purpose, he must file a motion, accompa- 
nied by a statement under oath setting forth 
the cause of such inabihty, the name or names 
of such witness or witnesses, the steps which 
have been taken to procure testimony, and the 
dates on which efforts have been made to pro- 
cure it. (See Rule 61.) 

( 5 ) When a party relies upon a caveat to estab- 
lish the date of his invention, the caveat itself, 
or a certified copy thereof, miust be filed in evi- 
dence, with due notice to- the opposite party. 

(6) Upon notice given to the opposite party 
before the closing of the testimony, any official 
record, and an}^ special matter contained in a 
printed publication, if competent evidence and 
pertinent to the issue, may be used as evidence 
at the hearing. 

(7) All depositions which are taken must be 
duly filed in the Patent Office. On refusal 
to file, the office at its discretion will not fur- 
ther hear or consider the contestant with 
whom the refusal lies; and the office may, at 
its discretion, receive and consider a copy of 



148 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM 01^ PATENTS 

the withheld deposition^ attested 1)y such evi- 
dence as is procurable. 

63. The pages of each deposition must be num- 
bered consecutively, and the name of the witness 
plainly and conspicuously wa'itten at the top of each 
page. The testimony must be written upon legal 
cap or foolscap paper, with a wide margin on the 
left-hand side of the page, and vv'ith the writing 
on one side only of the sheet. 

64. The testimony wuU be taken in answer to 
interrogatories, with the questions and answers 
committed to wn^iting in their regular order by the 
officer, or, in his presence, by some person not inter- 
ested in the case, either as a party thereto or as at- 
torney. But zi'ifh the zvritten consent of the par- 
ties the testimony may he taken steno graphically , 
and the deposition may he ivritten out by other per- 
sons in the presence of the officer, 

AVhere testimony is taken stenographically, a 
long-hand or typewritten copy shall be read to the 
\.vitness, or read over by him, as soon as it can be 
made, and shall be signed by him as provided 
in paragraph 3 of Rule 64. No officer who 
is connected by blood or marriage with either of 
tbiC parties, or interested, directly or indirectly, in 



AND INVENTIONS-^HOW MADE. 149 

the matter In contro'versy, either as courusel, attor- 
ney, agent, or otherwise, is competent tO' take de- 
positions, unless with the written consent of all the 
parties. 

65. By leave of the Commissioner, first ob- 
tained, testimony taken in an interference proceed- 
ing may be used in any other or subsequent inter- 
ference proceeding, so far as relevant and mate- 
rial, subject, however, to the right of any contest- 
ing party to recall witnesses w^hose depositions have 
been taken, and to take other testimony in rebut- 
tal of the depositions. 

66. By leave of the Commisisioner, first ob- 
tained, testimony may be taken in foreign countries, 
upon complying with the following requirements : 

( I ) Such permission will be granted only upon 
motion duly made. (See Rule 61.) The 
motion must designate a place for the exam- 
ination of the witnesses at which an officer 
duly qualified to take testimony under the 
laws of the United States in a foreign coun- 
try shall reside, and it must be accompanied 
by a statement under oath that the motion is 
made in good faith, and not for purposes of 
delay or of vexing or harassing any party to the 



ISO LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PAfENT S 

case; it must alsO' set forth the immes of the 
witnesses, the particular facts to which it is 
expected each will testify, and the gTounds on 
which is based the beHef that each will so tes- 
tify. 

(2) It must appear that the testimony desired 
is material and competent, and that it can 
not he taken in this country at all, or can not 
be taken here without hardship and injury 
to the moving party greatly exceeding that 
to which the opposite party will be exposed 
by the taking of such testimony abroad. 

(3) Upon the granting of such motion, time 
will be set within which the moving party shall 
file in duplicate the interrogatories to be pro- 
pounded to each witness, and serve a copy of 
the same upon each adverse party, who may, 
within a designated time, file, in duplicate, 
cross-interrogatories. Objections to any of 
the interroigatories or cross-interrogatories 
may be filed at any time before the depositions 
are taken, and such objections will be consid- 
ered and determined upon the hearing of the 
case. 

(4) As soon as the interrogatories and cross-in- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 151 

terrogatories are dedded tO' be in proper form, 
the Commissioner will cause them to be for- 
warded to the proper officer^ with the re- 
quest that, upon payment of, or satisfactory 
security for, his official fees, he notify the wit- 
nesses natoed to appear before him within a 
designated time and make answer thereto un- 
der oath; and that he reduce their answers 
to writing, and transmit the same, under his 
official seal and signature, to the Commission- 
er of Patents, with the certificate prescribed 
in Rule 62 (3). 

(5) By stipulation of the parties the require- 
ments of paragraph 3 as to written interroga- 
tories and cro'SS-interrogatories may be dis- 
pensed with, and the testimony may be taken 
before the proper officer upon oral interroga- 
tories by the parties or their agents. 

(6) Unless false swearing in the giving of such, 
testimony before the officer taking it shall be 
punishable as' perjury under the laws of the 
foreign state where it shall be taken, it will 
not stand on the same footing in the Patent 
Office as testimony duly taken in the United 
States ; but its weight in each case will be d^- 



152 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

termined by the tribunal havinig jurisdiction 
of such case. 

67. Evidence touching the matter at issue will 
not be considered on the hearing which shall not 
have been taken and filed in compliance with these 
rules. But notice will not be taken of merely for- 
mal or technical objections which shall not appear 
to have wrought a substantial injury to the party 
raising them; and in case of such injury it must 
be made to appear that, as soon as the party became 
a\\^are of the ground of objection, he gave notice 
thereof to the office, and also to the opposite party, 
informing him at the same time that, unless 
it should be removed, he (the objector) should 
lU'ge his objection at the hearing. This rule i-s 
not to be so construed as to modify established rules 
of evidence, which will be applied strictly in all 
practice before the office. 

68. The law recpiires the clerks of the various 
courts of the United States to issue subpoenas to 
secure the attendance of witnesses whose depO'si- 
ticns are desired as evidence in contested cases in 
the Patent Office. 

69. After testimony is filed in the office it may 
be inspected by any party to the case, but it can not 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. i53 

be withdrawn for the purpose of printing. It may 
be printed: by someone specially designated by the 
ofifice for that purpose, under proper restrictions. 

70. Thirty-one or more printed copies of the 
testimony must be furnished, five for the use of the 
oftice, one for each of the oppo'sing parties, and 
tzventy-five for the cofirt of appeals of the District 
of Columbia^ should appeal be taken. If no appeal 
be taken the twenty-five copies zvill be returned to 
the party filing them. The preliminary statement 
required by Rule 18 must be printed as a part of 
the record. These copies must be filed not less 
than ten days before the day of the hearing. They 
will be of the same size, both page and print, as the 
Rules of Practice, with the names of the witnesses 
at the top of the pages over their testimony, and 
will contain indexes with the names of all witnesses 
and reference to the pages where copies of papers 
and documents introduced as exhibits are shown. 

When but one of the contestants takes testimony, 
he may furnish six or more bound type-written cop- 
ies of the required size. 

When it shall appear, on motion dtily made and 
by satisfactory proof, that a party, by reason of 
poverty, is unable to print his testimony, the print- 



154 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OP PATENTS 

iiig may be dispensed with ; but in such case type- 
written copies must be furnished' — one for the of- 
fice and one for each adverse party. Printing of 
the testimony can not be dispensed with upon the 
stipulation of the parties. • 

Briefs in all contested cases shall be submitted in 
printed form, and shall be of the same size and the 
same as to page and print as the printed copies of 
testimony. But in case satisfactory reason there- 
for is shown to the office, typewritten briefs may be 
submitted. Briefs shall be filed three days before 
the hearing, except as provided in Rule 55. By 
consent of the parties they m'ay be filed later, but 
in any case must be filed before the hearing-. If 
either party fail to comply with this regulation, no 
extension of time will be granted for the purpose, 
except upon consent of the adverse parties. 

83. O. What is meant by the words ''on the 
grounds of al^andonment'' ? 

A. An abandoned application is one which has 
not been completed and prepared for examination 
within one year after the filing of the petition, or 
which the applicant has failed to prosecute within 
one year after any action therein of which notice has 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 155 

been duly given, or which the apphcant has ex- 
pressly abandoned by filing in the Patent Office a 
written declaration of abandonment. 

84. O. Can an abandoned case be renewed? 
A. Yes; but when a new apphcation has been 

filed in place of the abandoned or rejected applica- 
tion, a new specification, oath, drawing and fee 
will be required. 

85. Q. What is a forfeited application? 

A. A forfeited application is one upon which 
a patent has been withheld for failure to pay the 
final fee of $20 within the prescribed time (six 
months) after the case has been officially allowed. 

86. O, Can a forfeited application be renewed? 

A. Yes ; when a patent has been withheld for 
reason o'f non-payment of the final fee, the inven- 
tor may file a renewal application for the same in- 
vention, but such second application must be made 
within two years after the allowance of the orig- 
hial application. 

87. Q. Does an applicatioii for renewal re- 
quire a new specification and drawing? 

At No; in such renewal, the oath, petition, 



156 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

specification, and drawing of the original applica- 
tion may be used for the second application, but 
a new fee of $15 will be recpired. The second 
apphcation, however, will not be regarded for all 
purposes as a continuation of the original one, 
but must bear the date from the time of renewal 
and be subject to examination as did the original 
application. 

88. Q. In what instances would an inventor 
file in the Patent Office a declaration of abandon- 
ment of his pending application? 

A. It quite frequently happens that after an 
inventor files his application and receives the ref- 
erences cited against his invention (if such were 
his arrangement with his attorney to submit to 
hnii the references), many changes and improve- 
ments oil his own invention suggest themselves to 
him. Often these changes and improvements are 
of such a nature as to warrant the abandonment 
of the case under examination and the fifing of a 
new application in order to embody the new feat- 
ures and improvements therein, also' when the 
invention shown in the drawing is adjudged, by 
the examiner, to be inoperative or incomplete. No 
corrections can be made after the application has 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. i57 

been filed unless the errors are either described in 
the specification or shown in the drawings. It is 
for the foregoing reasons that the author always 
advises his clients to have a thorough preliminary 
examination made of the records at Washington; 
the inventor has then the state of the art before him 
and can make any desired, changes in his invention 
before filing the application. 

89. Q. Does it pay to invent and pay all costs 
of the patent application and fees? 

A. It certainly does. To^ show the possibility 
of making much money out of even a simple idea 
and the probable reason that many inventors fail 
to do so, we will follow up the foregoing exam- 
ple of a cool-handle frying-pan. To invent such 
is apparently a simple matter; it requires no me- 
chanical ingenuity; all one has to do is to think 
of it. But the one who thinks of it first is, in the 
eye of the law, the first, sole" and original inventor 
and is entitled to a patent. 

90. Q. Is a pan handle such a profitable inven- 
tion ? 

A. Yes ; it is a very profitable commercial inven- 
tion, because it performs a useful function; it pre- 



158 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

vents scorching the fingers. Our housewives will 
not have their fingers scorched if they can help 
it ; they will buy hollow-handled frying-pans and 
gladly pay five cents more for them. Out oi these 
five cents the inventor gets a royalty of two cents, 
an(( the rest of it goes toward the extra cost of 
mouufacture and the manufacturer's profit of the 
new addition. 

91. Q. Why take a single invention for an ex- 
ample? 

A. Primarily, because simple inventions are 
great stumbling blocks for inventors.. It is in sim- 
ple inventions that the inventors make the greatest 
errors, as will be demonstrated in the succeeding 
paragraphs; also for the comprehension of all 
readers. 

92. Q. How is a two-cent royalty invention 
profitable ? 

A. Two cents is a very small sum, to be stu^e, 
but the fifteen million American families, together 
with the numberless hotels, restaurants and board- 
ing houses, buy perhaps a hundred million frying- 
pans every year, and the life of the inventor's pat- 
ent is seventeen years. The inventor is thus placed 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 1S9 

by the Government in a position to make the mod- 
est sum of thirty-four milHon dollars as a reward 
for his first thinking of the simple invention of 
a cool-handle frying-pan. 

93. Q. Does every inventor make such an im- 
mense fortune out of a simple idea? 

A. No; not every inventor; some inventors 
do, but most of them do not. 

94. O. Why do they not ? 

A. Because, as the Patent Office records show, 
with the exception of a few, every inventor of a 
simple idea treats his invention with silly indiffer- 
ence ; his aim, apparently, is to obtain any kind of 
a patent and for as little money as he possibly can. 
The reason for this is probably because he 
does not foresee the future possibilities of his sim- 
ple idea, and doubts whether he can at all obtain a 
patent for it. The result is that he gets some kind 
of a i]batent — one that reads' a great deal and means 
nothing. As soon as his invention is published, 
other inventors and manufacturers in that line 
who do foresee the possibilities of the idea rush 
in at once and make numerous modifications of the 
original inventor's idea, obtain detail patents for 



i6o LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

them and flood the market with the improved pro- 
duct. Thus, instead of getting a royalty of two 
cents, the original inventor g^ets but a small frac- 
tion of a cent, and instead of his manufacturer con- 
trolling the market, he is forced to the w^all by ex- 
cessive competition. 

95. Q. What sliould the inventor have done? 

A. The inventor should have secured the serv- 
ices of a skilful patent attorney and paid him a 
certain fee for making a thorough preliminary ex- 
amination of the Patent Office records at Wash- 
ington. When the attorney reported that the in- 
vention w^as absolutely new and patentable, the 
inventor should have made arrangements with the 
attorney to secure, at any cost, a patent for his 
invention with the broadest possible claims that the 
Patent Office would allow. No further patents 
upon the original idea would have then become 
possible without liability to the original inventor. 
Then the thirty-foiDr milhon dollars, big as it 
looks, would have been the inventor's reward for 
his dihgence. 

96. Q. How broad should the claims for the 
pan-handle have been made? 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. i6i 

A. Every invenitor is entitled to claims com- 
niensurate with the principle which his invention 
announces to the world; in other words, he may 
make his claims as broad as his mental conception. 
If his invention is some mechanical device which 
may be made in a large variety of forms and ap- 
plied to a large number of articles of common use, 
the inventor is entitled to such changes and applica- 
tions thereof without enumerating them; but he 
must make claim to that effect. Every inventor is 
entitled to make any number of claims commensur- 
ate with the principle, construction, effects and 
functions of his invention he or his attorney is able 
to draw in accordance with the requirements of the 
law. The original coioil-handle inventor, as we are 
assuming that he was the first as well as the origi- 
nal inventor thereof, had conceived, the idea of a 
cool handle, and his conception of such entitled 
hhn not only to such claims as to secure to him 
the making of any form' of a cool pan-handle, but 
it also entitled' him to such claims as to secure to 
him the future application of his invention, with 
all the necessary connections therefor, to such arti- 
cles as he did not then think of, or even to such 
as did not then exist, such as, a cool-handle stove- 



i62 LABOFISH-S CATECHIvSM OF PATENTS 

lid lifter, a cooil-handle flat-iron lifter, a cool-han- 
dle teakettle; in fact, a cool-handle for any heat- 
able article of use. The application of his handle 
to such additional articles might have made him 
more money than twice the amount of royalties 
he could have collected from the cool-handle fry- 
ing-pan. These articles are manufactured in large 
quantities and are used in numbers in every family, 
and all that he had to do was to claim them for 
hmiself. Our patent laws are very favorable to 
the inventor; they were made for the inventor's 
benefit. The law is just and true and is willing 
to give the inventor all that is justly his own. But 
to get such privileges he must assert his right and 
make proper claims; if he fails to do so, he alone or 
his attorney, is to blame for the neglect. 

97. Q. How should the pan-handle claims 
have been worded commensurate with the inven- 
tor's conception of the cool pan-handle? 

A. The following claims could have been made: 

1. A cool handle for a beatable utensil; com- 
prising, a handle of low heat conductivity, and 
nieans for c:igaging the utensil therewith. 

2. A cool handle for a beatable utensil, compris- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 163 

h:g, a handle of low heat conductivity, and means 
thereon for engagment with the utensil. 

3. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, com- 
prising^ a handle of low heat conductivity, and 
means thereon for engaging the utensil thereby. 

4. A cool handle for a heatalDle utensil, com- 
prising a hilt of low heat conductivity, and means at 
one end thereof for engaging the periphery of the 
utensil. 

5. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, compris- 
ing, a hilt of low heat conductivity, and curved 
engaging means at one end thereof, to distance 
the heat from the hand. 

6. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, com- 
prising^ a ventilated handle, and means for engag- 
ing the utensil therewith. 

7. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, com- 
prising, a ventilated handle, a;nd means for engag- 
ing the utensil thereby. 

8. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, co^m- 
prising, a ventilated hilt and means at one end 
thereof, for engaging the utensil thereby. 

9. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, com- 
prising, a ventilated hilt, and means at one end 



i64 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

thereof, for engaging the periphery of the utensil. 

ID. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, com- 
prising, a ventilated hilt, and curved engaging 
means at one end thereof, to distance the heat 
from the hand. 

11. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, com- 
prising, an edgeless hilt, to prevent cutting into the 
fingers, and mieans for engaging the utensil there- 
with. ) 

12. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, com- 
prising, a tubular hilt, and means at one end thereof 
for engaging the utensil thereby. 

13. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, com- 
prising, a tubular hilt, 'and means thereon for en- 
gaging the utensil thereby. 

14. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, com-^ 
prising, a tubular hilt, and means at oiie end for 
engaging the utesnil thereby. 

15. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, com- 
prising, a tubular hilt, and means at one end there- 
of, for engaging the periphery of the utensil. 

16. A cool handle for a heatable utensil, com- 
prising, a tubular hilt, and curved means at one 
end thereof, to distance the heat from the hand. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 165 

17. A heatable utensil with a cool handle for 
handling same therewith, to prevent scorching the 
fingers. 

18. A heatable utensil, a cool handle for handHng 
same therewith, to prevent scorching the fingers, 
and an operative connection between said handle 
and utensil. 

19. A heatable utensil, a cool handle for hand- 
ling said utensil to prevent scorching the fingers, 
and means upon the handle for engaging the uten- 
sil therewith. 

20. A heatable utensil, a cool hilt for handling 
said utensil therewith, to prevent scorching the 
fingers, and means upon one end of said hilt for 
engagement with the utensil. 

21. A heatable utensil, a cool hilt for handling 
said utensil therewith, to prevent scorching the 
fingers, and means upon one end thereof for en- 
gaging the periphery of the utensil. 

22. A heatable utensil and a tubular handle, 
to prevent cutting into the fingers, for handling 
said utensil therewith. 

2^, A heatable utensil, and a tubular handle, 
to prevent cutting into the fingers, for handling 



i66 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

said utensil therewith, and an operative connec- 
tion between said handle and utensil. 

24. A heatable utensil, a tubular metal hilt, to 
prevent scorching the hilt and fingers, for hand- 
ling said utensil therewith, and means at one 
end thereof for securing same to the utensil. 

25. A heatable utensil, a tubular metal hilt for 
handling s'aid utensil therewith, and curved engag- 
ing m'eans at one end of said hilt, to distance the 
heat from the hand. 

26. The combinatio'n of a round hollow frying- 
pan handle, said handle being made of sheet iron 
rolled into a tube with the seam turned downward 
and' having one end thereof opened out and flattened 
said flat end being bent downwardly and hav- 
ing three holes by which it is riveted to the said 
pan with three rivets, substantially as described. 

98. O. Why, there is but one combination 
claimi in the whole lot! If, as stated in anisw(?r 
to questio'U 64, the combination claims are the all 
important claims, ought there not to^ be more than 
one combination claim in a case so original as this 
cool handle? 

A. That's SO'; but, you are greatly mistaken; 
these are all combination; claims except the last one, 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 167 

or claim 26, which is not a combination claim, but 
a specimen of a ''poor claim/' a ''false claim/' 
claim 26 does not claim anything. In properly 
worded combination claims it is not necessary to 
add the word "combination;'' it is clearly under- 
stood, nor do the words "substantially as described" 
add to the quahty of the claim. Claims i to 
16 inclusive claim the article proper with such con- 
nections as to make the cool handle applicable to 
any heatable article, and either permanently or 
temporarily. Claims 17 to 25 inclusive are com- 
l)in;ation claims of the nature described in answer 
to question 64, securing to the inventor the use of 
the article in conjunction with his handle. 

In the absence of a definite form of handle, it 
will be observed that a tubular handle, of the shape 
of the ordinary coal-shovel handle, riveted to the 
pan as an ordinary flat handle, is in the claims as- 
sumed. When there is a definite form of a han- 
dle a few more claims w^ould be necessary to cover 
the details of its construction. 

The 25 claims cover every phase of the in- 
veiUion of a cool handle thoroughly, and each 
claim is a legal and operative combination. But 
to secure the allowance of these claims in the Pat- 



i68 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

ent Office and their support in the courts, the speci- 
fication must lead up to such claims. It will be 
observed that the 25 claims cover three distinct 
phases of the invention, viz: i, A handle of low 
heat conductivity; 2. A ventilated handle; 3. A tu- 
bular handle. The low heat conductivity of the 
handle must be described in the specification as be- 
ing the result of the increased surface of the tu- 
bular handle through which the heat diflfuses itself, 
leaving the handle cool. The ventilation of the 
handle must be described, in the specification, as 
being the effect of its being hpllow; the air cir- 
culates in the space of- the handle and keeps it cool. 
The tubular handle must be described in the spec- 
ification, that its preference is mainly because the 
tubularity of the handle would prevent cutting into 
the fingers, as the flat handle does, as well as 
scorching the fingers, but that any other form of a 
cool handle may be employed. 

Similarly, to obtain the sanction of the Patent 
Office and the Courts to the use of the apparently 
alternative terms ''therewith" and "thereby'' in the 
claims, the specification must state that the handle 
is, preferably^ rigidly secured to the periphery of 
the pan, etc. 



AND INVENTIONS—HOW MADE. 169 

99. Q. Does every invention have a future 
possibility and several phases? 

A. Practical'ly ever}/- invention has; even the 
sewing needle and the writing pen have several 
offsprings, and so has the lucifer match and the 
talipw candle. To illustrate the importance of 
considering the future poiS'sibilities even of one of 
the simplest of inventions imaginable, we will take 
another example. Supposing you were the invent- 
or of the carpet tack and obtained a patent there- 
for. Your patent, we will say, covered your in- 
vention thoroughly, securing to you the exclusive 
right of making, using and vending a carpet tack. 
Would that be sufificient? No. Another invent- 
or, after he has seen 3^oor tack (for all an inventor 
needs is to see a promising invention — the imipulse 
to alter and apply it to some other purpose is spon- 
taneo'us), will cut off the barb and make a rivet 
out of it, for which there may be a greater demand 
than for your tack, and make more money out of it 
than you will of your tack. Still another invent- 
or, after he has seen your tack, will cut off its head 
and make a shoe peg of it; he, too, will make 
more money out of his shoe peg than you did out of 
your tack, and neitheir of them would infringe upon 



170 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

your patent, for your patent covers a tack and 
nothing else (see amswer to question 73). The 
progress of the past century demonstrated the fact 
that mere protection of the invention proper is in- 
sufificient, for it will not remain long in the same 
state; someone will alter it, and apply it to some 
other useful purpose, and if such alteration and 
application is not covered by the first inventor's 
patent he will not derive the full benefit of his in- 
vention. 

100. Q. How can the future possibilities of an 
invention be provided for? 

A. The future, as well as the present, possibili- 
ties of an invention can be provided for only by 
tlie scope and spirit vested in the vSpecification and 
the claims of the patent. There is only one word 
of diflference l^etween a patent secured by an in- 
competent attorney and that by a oompetent. The 
former secures to the inventor the privileges of 
making and using his invention, and the latter se- 
cures tO' the inventor the ''exclusive" privilege of 
making and using his invention. This is on a 
level with one lawyer drawing up a deed by virtue 
of which the holder of that deed is entitled to enter 
the property he purchased, and another lawyer 



AND INVENTIONS— How MADfi. i?i 

drawing up a deed by virtue of which no person 
can enter the property without permissiioii from the 
liolder of that deed. This little difference between 
these two kinds of patents seems to be not very 
clearly understood by some inventofs. As an il- 
lustration of the meager knowledge of patents of 
some inventors I will narrate a little recent inci- 
dent. I fear that by this I am courting trouble, 
but as I do not mention the person's name I hope 
she will be grateful for the reflection rather than in- 
dignant, since it is for her edification as w^ell as for 
that of others. 

AN INCIDE:nT. 

One of my friends recommended me to a lady 
who had an invention ; the lady called at my resi- 
dence and paid me a very high compliment, assert- 
ing, smilingly, that I was recommended to her as 
the l>est and smartest patent attorney in the world, 
and that she was told by Mr. So-and-so that I 
\A'culd get her the best patent, and she wanted to 
liave a private talk with me with reference thereto. 
She showed me her sketch and explained her in- 
vention very intelligently. After studying it for 
a few minutes I told her that first of all the Patent 



1^2 LABOFtSH'S CATE'CHtSM OF PATENTS 

Office records, will have to be searched to find out 
whether the improvement was patentable. At this 
simple remark the lady became indignant and 
blushed ; her face turned crimson red from excite- 
ment. ''Why/' she said, ''I have never seen any- 
thing like this article, and I am sure no one has 
ever thought of such an invention before. This is 
not an improvement but an invention; I am posi- 
tive you could not find one like it in all the world, 
and if you turned the Patent Office upside down 
you could not find anything that wO'uld do the work 
as this device does. An examination of the Patent 
Office records would be a mere waste of your val- 
uable time. This is not an improvement, but an 
original invention/' etc. Noticing that the sugges- 
tion of searching the records touched her so deeply, 
and as I did not yet mention my fee for the prelimi- 
nary examination, I could not think of any reason 
for her action, nor how I could have possibly of- 
fended her either by that simple remark of search- 
irg the records, or by calling her invention an im- 
provement. I was so confused that I did not know 
what to tell her to pacify her sarcasm, so I tried to 
divert her attention from the subject by question- 
ing her as to the working of her invention, re- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. m 

marking- incidentally, by way of apology, that as she 
had studied her invention thoroughly, she probably 
knew the state of the art, and that I am accustomed 
to advise a prelimiinary examination ; for the Patent 
Office is now 113 years old and the world still 
older, and that we — ^patent attorneys — ^are accus- 
tomed to call every invention improvement, etc. 
Finally she quieted down and asked me what my 
fee for preparing and prosecuting the case was, 
and I told her. Here, the lady jumped up from her 
seat as if scalded. ^^The idea," she exclaimed, 

''Why Mr. & Co. never asked me more than 

and did not say anything about searching 

the records, and you ask $5 more than they do; why 
you are doing the work yourself, and they have 
to pay their men and women clerks for prepar- 
ing the patents, you ought to do the work for $5 
less than they do, not more.'' I told her that because 
I am preparing the cases myself I have to charge 
more, and that I could get her a better patent than 

Mr. & Co., and that owing to my peculiar 

aptitude in drawing comprehensive claims my 
work is well worth $5 more because I w^ould pro- 
tect her invention thoroughly, not merely get her a 
patent. ''Oh, you can not tell me/' said the lady, 



174 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM 01^ PATENTS 

''that the Patent Office would give you a better pat- 
ent than it would Mr. & Co., or seme other 

attorney; a patent is a patent; that's only talk; 
there is no more quality in patents than there is in 
greenbacks. I have worked three years in the 
I'reas'ury Department and I know that you could 
no more get a better patent from the Patent Office 
than I or any body else could get a better $io bill 
in the Treasury Department. A patent is a patent, 
whether you gtt it out or somebody else.'' She un- 
doubtedly forgot what she had said before, that 
she came to me because she thoug'ht that I could get 
her a better patent. I did not care to argue with 
'I'^r much longer. 1 was exceedingly glad when she 
Vft me, for I could see in her face that she plainly 
J :cused me of 'highway robbery, because I was ask- 
ing $5 more for my superior knowledge and 
r;reater painstaking in my work; and though I 
always try to hold and please all my clients, par- 
ticularly those referred to me 1)y my friends and 
clients, I am glad that woman never came back. 

I hope that when the student will have carefully 
studied this book through, he will know that there 
is quality in patents and a great deal of difference 
between one patent and anotlier. And so will that 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. i75 

lady, after she has tried to dispose of her patent 
right. 

Inventors, men and women, as a class, are in- 
telligent and well-informed persons, but I have 
met with man)^ a good inventor who did not seem 
to understand the difference between a good and a 
poor patent. For the benefit of such I deem it 
expedient to make some additional remarks with 
reference to the importance of securing the broad- 
est kind of patent. 

the: patent proposition and its PARAI^I.t:i,. 

The patent proposition is on. a parallel with a 
proposition of this character: The Government is 
offering to deed to you a building lot in the center 
of a well-populated city ( ever}^ class of invention is 
pretty well populated with patents.) The Govern- 
ment tells you that you can make out your deed for 
all the ground in that section of the city (class) 
that is not deeded to another; but that any ground 
in that lot that you fail to embrace properly in your 
deed, will be deemed abandoned and set free so 
that any citizen may use it freely. Under such cir- 
cumstances, if I sihould consult you about it and 
ask you to advise me what to do, you would nat- 



176 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

urally advice me tc employ a good lawyer and see 
tc it that first of all he makes a thorougth survey of 
the land to ascertain just v/hat portion of it is not 
deeded to another, and then you would say that I 
should make it my business and see to it that my 
lawyer draws up a deed that embraces every foot 
of ground, every nook and corner of that lot that 
is not deeded to another, for every foot O'f ground 
has an intrinsic value. This is just what I am ad- 
vising every one of my readers to do, and do it well. 
A building lot in itself, we must rem'ember, is per- 
fectly valueless; its value lies in the size and na- 
ture of the structure it is possible to erect thereon 
from w^hich the returnis are expected. And so is 
an invention; its value lies in the size of trade it is 
possible to build up thereon against competition. 
But if you did not care what lawyer you employed, 
and all you wanted the lav/yer to do is to guarantee 
you that he will get 3rou a deed, and that deed 
which he made out conveys to you but a narrow 
strip of that building lot, upon which nothing larg- 
er than a dog house could be erected, of what value 
would that deed be to you? This is exactly the 
case with the patent. The Government gives you 
the privilege of embracing every principle, effect. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. i77 

function and detail of your invention ; any portion 
of your invention that is not secured to you by 
claims is set free so that any person may use it; 
and hence arises all the supposed infringement 
suits. The inventor knows that it is his inven- 
tion and that he has a patent, while the infringer, 
who has studied the inventor's patent with greater 
care than the inventor himself, knows that the in- 
vention that he is m.aking, though it is the product 
of the patentee's brain, is set free and therefore he 
has a legal right to make it. The patentee spends 
several hundred dollars, and often thousands, in 
patent litigation and is eventually defeated. This 
is the cause, perhaps, of the greater number of in- 
fringement suits, and in such cases defeat is the 
patentee's lot. 

THi: ART OP^ PREPARING AND PR0SE:CUTING AN 
APPLICATION. 

The art of drawing up a specification and claims 
and prosecuting an application before the Patent 
Office properly, is not mastered by every person en- 
rolled in the Roster of Registered Attorneys, just as 
medical skill is not the property of every doctor 
holding a diploma. A patent attorney may 



178 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

be a learned man, a scientist, and a lawyer, 
and yet be unable to draw com'prehensive claims 
SC' as to secure to the inventor everything 
to which he is entitled. The idea of a multi- 
plicity of claims is to hedge around the invention 
so that no other person could get at the construc- 
ticn, or the principle; the ability to prepare and 
prosecute such claims is as much of a natural gift 
as is the inventive faculty. Of course, a proper 
knowledge of science, law and m.echanics is es- 
sential, but that alone does not seem- to be suf- 
ficient. 

As previously explained and illustrated, the 
A'alue of the patent is entirely dependent upon the 
scope and spirit vested in the specification and the 
claims of the patent. In original inventions, such 
as the pan-handle of our example, the drawing up 
of the specification and the claims properly is prac- 
tically all that is required. But such inventions are 
not to be had nowadays, and every application that 
is filed in the Patent Office must be vigorously 
prosecuted or no patent worth the having will be 
the result; for all the broad claims will be rejected 
on prior patents in the same class. Great skill and 
ingenuity is required in overcoming references 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 170 

cited ag^ainst an invention, and as every argument 
presented in the defense of the invention remains 
on record against the invention, the arguments 
must^ therefore, be truthful, yet convincing ; other- 
wise they will be used by the opponent against the 
patentee. Every invention is usually entirely orig- 
inal with the inventor, but he is seldom, if ever, the 
first inventor of the entire mechanism; hence, his 
part of the invention, that is, of which he is the 
first inventor, must be carefully separated from 
those that belong to others. Much nicety is re- 
quired to do this properly, so as to leave the appli- 
cant's invention in the shape of a whole, and in- 
dependent of any of those of his predecessors, not 
a mere portion of somebody else's machine. The 
good patent is the one that secures to the inventor 
the complete whole and leaves no loop holes by 
which a clever angler may hook a portion of the 
invention and lay the foundation for a close imita- 
tion of the patented article. , 

Specific, distinct and operative claims, with as 
few elements as it is possible to make legal opera- 
tive combinations, and a large number of such 
claims, is the only kind of patent worth the having 
and the only one that is profitable. A patent short 



igo LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

of such qualifications is wo-rse than useless. It is a 
pity to see so many promising inventions ruined; 
we often see a patent illustrated by half a dozen 
sheets of drawings described in about a half dozen 
or more pages and having but about a half dozen 
claims, each of which is a small specification in it- 
self, and often so elastic as to make it practically 
valueless. Such claims read a great deal but mean 
little or nothing. These patents' usually permit the 
inventor to make his own invention but do not 
effectually prevent others from making the same 
thing just a little different. As stated, a large num- 
ber of properly-drawn claims is important to the 
successful protection of the invention, and is usual- 
ly possible if there is any novelty in the invention, 
and if there is none the patent is not worth the hav- 
ing. Eadi properly-drawn claim in a patent se- 
cures to the inventor a M0Diii'iE:D construction of his 
invention ; it follows that the more modifications 
you secure to yourself the less you leave for others. 
This is the only reason why every inventor should 
demand from his attorney a large number of claims. 
If you have an invention that is of any value, have 
it all to yourself; leave no loop holes and no room 
for another to enter upon your field, for if you do. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. i8t 

you will be sorely disappointed in your expectation 
of returns from your invention. 

A careful inspection of the device shown in the 
succeeding cut and the claims covering the inven- 
tion thereof will give you a clear idea of how a lim- 
ited invention should be claimed to cover all its 
phases. The cut is a reduced copy of the ofificial 
drawing, showing a simple little universal gauge 
which I have devised for inventors' and mechanics' 
pocket use, the patent for which was issued on 
October 13, 1903. The g*aug'e consists essentially 
of but two principal elements, the two graduated 
angular blades and a yoke in Which the two blades 
are held reversibly. The principle upon which this 
gauge operates is not broadly new; there are just 
twelve patents on record cited against this inven- 
tion ; some of these references shov/ a single angu- 
lar blade having stepped edges for the same pur- 
pose, some show angular blades with graduations, 
and some folding blades having cut away edges, 
etc. ; so that the only thing that is really new in 
this device is the principle of using two blades to 
form the salient or the re-entrant angde instead of 
one; but as this is a commercially desirable feat- 
ure it was important to protect the invention there- 



i82 LABOF'ISH^S CATECHISM OP PATENTS 

of in all its phases. The simple idea of splitting 
the old angular blade in two is thus protected by 
twenty claims, preventing twenty different people 
from making twenty different modifications of my 
idea of splitting the old angular blade in two. The 
stepped edges being of little or no commercial value 
— having been shown and described merely as a 
substitute for the graduation marks — are not 
claimed broadly nor made an effective element of 
the important claims. 

In many cases it is advisable to show, describe 
and claim a modified construction or a substitute 
function of the invention, and this is often possi- 
ble. But, as only one invention can be covered in 
one application, the modified structure or substi- 
tute function should not be a broad departure from 
tlie principle of the preferred form of the inven- 
tion. If the modified construction is decidedly 
different from the preferred form of the invention 
a new application should be made therefor, even 
if the new modification is not commercially desir- 
able. Many valuable inventions have been lost to 
their inventors through unclaimed modifications, 
and unless the modification can be legally covered 
in the same application it is best omited. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 183 



i ii;iiiiiii)i ii ii Jj| i ii i' imiW ff M Ei!B J!|^ ^ 





'""^m^. 




1. A gage comprising a plate, oppositely-dis- 
posed pivots held fixedly thereon, and two angular 
blades held reversibly upon said pivots to form 
jointly a salient or a re-entrant angle, to gag*e the 
inner or outer squareness of rectangular objects. 

2. A gage comprising oppositely-disposed angu- 
lar blades, means for holding the blades reversibly 
tc form jointly a salient or a re-entrant angle, and 
means for controlling the two ends of said blades 
to form correct vertexes, 



i84 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

3. A gage coiniprising oppositely-disposed angu- 
lar blades, means for holding the blades reversibly 
to form jointly a salient or a re-entrant angle, and 
graduation-marks along those edges of said blades 
which form said angles, for the purpose specified. 

4. A gage comprising a plate, oppositely-dis- 
posed pivots thereon, angular blades held reversibly 
upon said pivots, to form jointly a salient o-r a re- 
entrant angle, and means upon said plate for con- 
trolling the free ends of the blades, to form correct 
vertexes. 

5. A gage comprising two angular blades each 
having one agnle of forty-five degrees, and means 
for holding said blades reversibly to form jointly a 
salient or a re-entrant angle of ninety degrees, to 
gage the squareness of rectangular objects. 

6. A gage comprising two contiguously-mount- 
ed angular blades each having one angle of forty- 
fi\'e degrees, a plate, pivots upon said plate upon 
which said blades are held reversibly, and means 
upon said plate for controlling the vertexes of the 
blades, to form jointly a salient or a re-entrant 
angle of ninety degrees. 

7. A gage comprising two angular blades each 
of which has a long edge and a short edge parallel 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 185 

thereto, a plate anid pivots thereon, said blades be- 
ing held contiguously and reversibly upon said piv- 
ots, to form jointly a salient angle when the long 
edges contact or a re-entrant angle when the short 
edges contact. 

8. A gage comprising two angular blades, means 
for holding the blades reversibly, to form jointly a 
sahent or a re-entrant angle, and a device interme- 
diate between the two blades for controlling the two 
ends of said blades, to form correct vertexes. 

9. A g*age comprising a plate, oppositely-dis- 
posed pivots thereon, two angular blades journaled 
upon said pivots, and a block upon said plate 
against which said blades impinge, to control the 
vertexes of said blades to form^ jointly correct ver- 
texes. 

10. A gage comprising a plate, oppositely-dis- 
posed pivots thereon, a block intermediate between, 
and in horizoMal alinement with, said pivots, and 
two angular blades journaled upon said pivots con- 
tiguously, the contiguous edges of said blades be- 
ing in vertical alinement with the center of said 
block, to form jointly correct vertexes. 

11. A gage comprising two blades each of which 
is cut away from its extreme lower corner toward 



i86 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

the opposite upper corner, and having its upper 
corner cut away to a certain angle, a plate upon 
which said bkdes are held reversibly, and an angu- 
lar block upon said plate of corresponding angle 
against which one of the upper corners of each 
blade impinges, for the vertexes of said blades to 
form jointly a correct vertex. 

12. A gage comprising two contiguously- 
mounted' trapezoidal blades each having one edge 
oblique to its parallel sides, a plate upon which 
said blades are held reversibly to form a salient or 
a re-entrant angle, and graduation-marks along 
said oblique edges of the blades which form said 
angles, for the purpose specified. 

13. A g^age comprising two contiguously-mount- 
ed trapezoidal blades, a plate upon which said 
blades are held reversibly to form jointly a salient 
or a re-entrant angle, and graduation marks along 
the oblique edges of said blades, to collectively in- 
dicate measurements of objects of various diam- 
eters without adjustment, said graduation-marks 
being at right angles to the straight edges A' of 
said blades, to facilitate the reading. 

14. A gage comprising two contiguously-mount- 
ed trapezoidal blades, a plate upon which said 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 187 

blades are held reversibly, to form a salient or a 
re-entrant angle, graduation-marks upon the ob- 
lique edges of said blades, and numerals upon each 
blade for indicating inches or half-inches, said nu- 
merals of one blade being in reverse order to those 
of the other, for the purpose specified. 

15. A gage comprising a yoke, and two angular 
blades held reversibly therein, said yoke being 
composed of two plates and a block between the 
two plates to hold them the proper distance apart, 
for said blades to turn freely to form a salient or 
a re-entrant angle. 

16. A gage comprising two angular blades each 
of which is cut away from the extreme lower cor- 
ner toward the opposite upper corner and having 
its upper corner cut away, and an ear intermediate 
between the upper corners, a plate, and a block 
thereon upon which said blades are held reversibly 
with their cut-away corners impinging against said 
block. 

17. A g*age comprising a yoke, said yoke being 
composed of two plates and a block between, piv- 
ots for holding the plates in position, said pivots 
being in horizontal ahnement with said block, and 
two angular blades having cut-away upper corners 



i88 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

journaled upon said pivots between the two plates 
with one of the cut-away corners of each blade im- 
pinging against said block, to prevent the move- 
rrjcnt of either blade beyond the vertical central line 
through said block. 

1 8. A gage comprising two contiguously- 
m.ounted blades, each of w^hich has one of its cor- 
ners cut away and the edge thus formed serrated, 
to center the object to be measured, and means for 
holding the blades reversibly, to form a salient or a 
re-entrant angle. 

19. A gage comprising a plate, oppositely-dis- 
posed pivots thereon, two angular blades held re- 
versibly upon said pivots, to form a salient or a re- 
entrant angle and steps upon the edges for the 
object to be measured to bear against the shoulders 
of said steps. 

20. A gage comprising a plate, oppositely-dis- 
posed pivtos thereon, a block intermediate between 
said pivots, trapeziodal blades, adapted to form col- 
lectively a saHent or re-entrant angle, journaled 
upon said pivots and impinging against said block, 
steps upon the edges of the blades forming the 
angleS; and means upon said blades, in juxtaposi- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 189 

tion to the said steps, for indicating the measure- 
ment of the objects gaged therewith. 

1 01. Q. Can two or more persons make an in- 
vention ? 

A. Yes, they can ; they are termed in law joint 
inventors and are entitled tO' a joint patent; but 
neither of them can obtain a patent for himself for 
an invention that has been jointly invented by 
them. 

iO'2. Q. Can two or more inventors join in one 
patent ? 

A. Independent inventors of distinct and inde- 
pendent improvements, though in the same m^a- 
chine, can not obtain a joint patent for their sepa- 
rate inventions. 

103. Q. If one furnishes the money for the 
patent can he join the inventor in the patent? 

A. No, he can not ; the fact that one person fur- 
nishes the capital and the other makes the inven- 
tion does not entitle them to an application as joint 
inventors; but in such cases they may become 
joint patentees, under certain conditions prescribed 
JDy law. 



iQo LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

104. O. What are these conditions? 

A. The inventor must assign to the party who 
furnishes the capital a certain interest in the patent 
and the assignment must be recorded in the Patent 
Office; the patent will then be issued to both the 
inventor and the party who furnished the capital. 

105. O. What is an assignmient? 

A. Every patent, or an interest in a patent, is 
assignable in law by an instrument in writing called 
assignment, the assignee is then entitled to the same 
privilege under the patent as the inventor himself. 
This instrument is usually made out and recorded 
ir the Patent Office by a patent attorney. Follow- 
ing are the various forms of assignments which the 
student may copy, fill up and execute, and then sub- 
iTAt it to a patent atorney for recording. 

ASSIGNMENTS 

01^ AN IvNTlRi: INTe:re:ST in an INVI:nTION BIvI^OR^ 
THE ISSUE 01^ LETTERS PATENT. 

Whereas I, , of , county of 

, and State of , have invented a cer- 
tain new and useful improvement in , for 

which I am about to make application for letters 
patent of the United States ; and whereas 



And INVENI'IONS— how made. 191 

, of county . . . . , and State of 

is desirous of acquiring an interest in said inven- 
tion and in the letters patent to be obtained there- 
for : 

Now, therefore, to all whom it m-ay concern, b^ 
it known that, for and in consideration of the sum 
of . . . . dollars to me in hand paid, the receipt of 

which is hereby acknowledged, I, the said 

. , have sold, assigned, and transferred, 

and by these presents do' sell, assign, and transfer, 
unto the said the full and exclu- 
sive right to the said invention, as fully set forth 
and described in the specification prepared and exe- 
cuted by me on the .... day of. . . ., 19. ., pre- 
paratory to obtaining letters patent of the United 
States therefor ; and I do' hereby authorize and re- 
quest the Commissioner of Patents to issue the 

said letters patent to the said as 

the assignee of my entire right, title, and interest in 
and to the same, for the sole use and behoof of the 
said and his legal represen- 
tatives. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my 

hand and aflixed my seal this day of 

19.... 



192 LABOFiSH'S CA1*E'CHISM OF PATENTS 

(L.s.) 

In presence of— - 



01^ the: entire: inte:re:st m i.e:tte:rs pate^nt. 

Whereas I, ,of ..,'..., county 

of . . . .^ State of . . . ., did obtain letters patent of 

the United States for an improvement in 

which letters patent are numbered . . . . , and bear 
date the . . . .day of . . . ., in the year 19. . ; and 
whereas I am now the sole owner of said patent and 

of all rights under the same; and whereas 

, of . . . . , county of . . . ., and State of 

, is desirous of acquiring the entire in- 
terest in the same: 

Now, therefore, to all whom, it may concern, be 
it known that, for and in consideration of the sum 
of .... dollars to me in hand paid, the receipt of 

which is hereby acknowledged, I, the said 

. . , have sold, assigned, and transferred, and by 
these presents do sell, assign, and transfer unto the 

said , the whole right, title, and 

interest in and to the said improvement in 

and in and to the letters patent therefor aforesaid; 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 193 

the same to be held and enjoyed by the said ...... 

, for his own use and behoof, and for the 

use and behoof of his legal representatives, tO' the 
full end of the term for which said letters patent are 
or may be granted, as fully and entirely as the same 
would have been and enjoyed by me had this as- 
signment aiid sale not been made. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto' set my 
hand and affixed my seal at . . . . , in the county of 

.and State of . . . ., this . . . .day of . . . ., 

19..... 

..(I..S.) 

In the presence of — 



o^ AN undividi:d inti^rkst in Ivi:tte:rs paTe:nt. 

Whereas I, , of . . . . , county of . . 

, State of ■ , did obtain 

letters patent of the United States for an improve- 
ment in , which letters patent are num- 
bered . . . . , and bear date the .... day of .... , in 

the year . . . . : and whereas , of 

, county of , State of , is 'de- 
sirous of acquiring an interest in the same: 



194 LABOFISH^S CAlTECHlSM OF" PATENI^S 

Now, therefore, to all whom it may coiicern, be it 
known that, for and' in consideration of the sum of 
.... dollars to me in hand paid, the receipt of 

which is hereby acknowledged, I, the said 

, have, sold, assigned, and transferred, and 

by these presents do sell, assign, and transfer unto 
the said , the undivided one- 
half part of the whole right title, and interest in and 
to the said invention and in and tO' the letters pat- 
ent therefor aforesaid; the said undivided one-half 

part to be held and enjoyed by the said 

. . . . , for his own use and behoof, and for the use ■ 
and l>ehoof of his legal representatives, tO' the full 
end of the term for which said letters patent are or 
miay be granted, as fully and entirely as the same 
would have been held and enjoyed by me had this 
assignment and sale not been made. 

In testimony whereof I have hereuntoi set my 
hand and affixed' my seal at. . . , in the county of. . 

. . . . , and State of , this .... day of. ... , 

19.... 

(I..S.) 

In the presence of — 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 195 

te:rritoriaIv inte:re:st af^tkr grant 0^ pate:nt. 

Whereas I, , of , county of 

, State of , did obtain letters patent 

of the United States for improvement in: 

. . . ., which letters patent are numhered. . . ., and 
bear date the . . . .day of. ... in the year 19. ... ; 
and whereas I am now the sole owner o^f the said 
patent and of all rig'hts under the same in the below- 
recited territory ; and whereas , of 

....... county of. ... , State of , is desir- 
ous of acquiring- an interest in the same: 

Now, therefore, to all whom it may concern, be it 
known that, for and in consideration of the sum of 
.... dollars' to me in hand paid, the receipt of which 

is hereby acknowledged, I, the said 

have sold, assigned, and transferred, and by these 
presents do' sell, assign, and transfer untoi the said 

, , all the rig'ht, title, and interest 

\v. and to the said invention, as secured to me by 
^aid letters patent, for, to, and in the State of . . . ., 
and for, to, or in no other place or places; the same 

tc be held and enjoyed by the said , 

within and throug'hout the above-specified terri- 
tory, but not ehewhere, for his own use and behoof, 
and for the us^ and behoof of his legal representa^ 



196 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

tives, tO' the full end of the term^ for which said 
letters patent are or may be granted, as fully and 
entirely as the same would have been held and en- 
joyed by me had this assignment and sale not been 
made. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto' set my 
hand and affixed my seal at . . . . , in the eoiunty of 
. . . . , and State of ...... , this . . . day of .... 19 . . 

...(I..S.) 

In the presence of — , 



106. Q. What is a state, shop or county license? 

A. The patentee may divide and subdivide his 
patent right into as many sections as he chooses; 
he may grant a license to^ a manufacturer securing 
him the privilege of making the invention in his 
shop only, and to another a certain county or State 
only. The patentee may grant as m.any Hcenses and 
tc as many different persons as he chooses. A pat- 
ent right is as much property as is real estate. The 
patentee has a right to mortgage his patent right 
or give the patent as collateral, or do any thing he 
chooses with it. Following are the various formiS, 
of licenses ^ 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. t97 

IvICE^NSE: — SHOP-RIGHT. 

In consideration of the sum of dollars, to 

be paid by the firm of , of , 

in the county of State of I do 

hereby license and empower the "said 

to manufacture in said. ... (or other place agreed 

upon) the improvement in , for which 

letters patent of the United States No were 

granted to me the .... day of . . . . , in the year 
19. . . ., and to sell the m'achines so manufactured 
throughout the United States- to the full end of the 
term for which said letters patent are gTanted. 

Signed at. . . ., in the county of . . . . and State 
of . . . . , this .... day of . . . . , 19 ... . 



In presence of — 



i.ice:nse: — NOT i:xci.usivi: — with royai^ty. 

This agreement, made this day of , 

19 .... , between , of , in the county 

of and State of , party of the first 

part, and , of , in the county of 

and State of .... , party of the second part, 



198 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

witnesseth, that whereas letters patent of the 

United States No , for an improvement in ... . 

, were granted to the party of the first part 

on the .... day of . . . ., 19. . ; and whereas the 
part}^ of the second jpart is desirous of ma:niifactur- 
ing containing said patented im- 
provement : Now, therefore, the parties have 
agreed as follows: 

I. The party of the first part hereby licenses and 
empowers the party of the second part to manu- 
facture, subject to the conditions hereinafter 

named, at their factory in , and in no other 

place or places, to the end of the term for which 

said letters patent were granted, 

containing the patented improvements, and to sell 
the same within the United States. 

II. The party of the second part agrees to make 
full and true returns to the party of the first part, 
under oath, upon the first days of .... and .... in 
each year, of ah containing the paten- 
ted improvements manufactured by them. 

III. The party of the second part agrees to pay 
to the party of the first part .... dollars as license 

fee upon every manufactured by said party 

of the second part containing the patented improve- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. i99 

ments ; provided, that if the said fee be paid upon 
the days provided herein for semiannual returns, or 
within .... days thereafter, a discount of .... per 
cent, shall be made from said fee for prompt pay- 
ment. 

IV. Upon a failure of the party of the second 
part to make terms or to make payment of license 
fees, as herein provided, for .... days after the 
day herein named, the party of the first part may 
terminate this license by serving a written notice 
upon the party of the second part ; but the party of 
the second part shall not thereby be discharged 
from any habilities to the party of the first part for 
any license fees due at the time of the service of said 
notice. 

In witness whereof the parties above named 
have hereunto set their hands the day and year 
first above written at . . . . , in the county of . . . . , 
and State of 



In the presence of- 



200 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

107. Q. What is a reissue patent? 

A. A reissue patent is granted to the original 
patentee when the original patent is inoperative or 
invalid by reason of a defective or insufficient speci- 
fication ; provided, the error has arisen through in- 
advertance, accident or mistake, and without any 
fraudulent or deceptive purposes. In other words, 
when an incompetent attorney secures a sliadow of 
a patent for a real invention the inventor has a 
remedy, if he happens to detect it soon after the pat- 
ent is granted, by applying for a corrected or re- 
issued patent. 

The reissue application must be made, and the 
specification sworn to by the inventor, if he is liv- 
ing The petition for a reissue must be accom- 
panied by a certified copy of the abstract of title of 
the original patent, giving the names of all the per- 
sons interested in the patent. 

An applicant for a reissue must file a statement 
on oath, in compliance with certain rules on the 
subject. Original claims, if reproduced in the re- 
issue specification, are subject to reexamination, 
and the entire application must be restricted in the 
same manner as the original application. 

The appHcant for a reissue patent must sur- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 201 

render, or offer to surrender, the original patent 
when the reissue apphcation is made. The Gov- 
ernment fee for a reissue patent is $30; attorney's 
fees are usually a little more than for original cases. 
A reissue patent is not looked upon with favor by 
the courts. 

108. Q. What is a design patent? 

A. A design patent is a patent for a new, orig- 
inal and ornamental design for an article of manu- 
facture, not known nor used by others. Any per- 
son having produced a new design may, upon pay- 
m.ent of the required fees and other due proceedings 
had, obtain a patent therefor. 

Patents for designs are granted for the terms of 
three and one-half years, for seven years, or for 
fourteen years, as the applicant may in his applica- 
tion elect. 

The proceeding's in applications for patents for 
designs are substantially the same as for other pat- 
ents. The design must be represented by a draw- 
ing, made to conform tO' the rules laid down for 
drawings for mechanical inventions. 

109. Q. What is a caveat? 

A. A caveat^ under the patent law, is a notice 



202 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

given to the Patent Ofifice of the caveator's cl'aini as 
inventor, in order to prevent the grant of a patent 
to another person for the same alleged invention 
upon application filed during the life of the caveat 
Vvithout notice to the caveator. 

no. O. Who may file a caveat? 

A. Any citizen of the United States (no alien, 
except one who has declared his intention to become 
a citizen), who has made a new invention or dis- 
covery and desires further time to mature the same, 
may, upon payment of a fee of $io, file in the Pat- 
ent Ofiice a caveat, setting forth the object and dis- 
tinguishing characteristics of the invention, and 
praying protection of the right until he shall have 
matured his invention. The caveat is filed in the 
confidential archives of the Patent Office and pre- 
served in secrecy; it is operative for the term of 
one year after the filing thereof, but may be re- 
newed from year to year by the payment of a fee of 
$io dollars for every year. If the caveat is not re- 
newed, it is still preserved in the secret archives of 
the Patent Office. 

The caveat must comprise a specification, draw- 
ing, oath and petition, and like an application for $i 



AND INVENTIONS—HOW MADfi. ^03 

patent, must be limited to a single invention or im- 
provement. 

A caveat confers no right and offers no protec- 
tion, except as to notice of an interfering applica- 
tion filed during its life, giving the caveator an op- 
portunity of proving priority of invention. A cav- 
eat may be used as evidence in contests. 



204 LABOFiSH'S CATECHtSM OP PATENfS 

PART II. 

Every intelligent person who by force of circum- 
stances is obliged to seek some new source of re- 
mnneration outside of his usual vo'cation, if such 
person is of a patient and pensive temperament and 
of a practical turn of mind, he can find iiO' better 
tleld of action than inve^nTing. A single invention 
or a simple improvement, if properly handled may 
make its inventor independently rich, or at any 
rate relieve him of a financial' embarrasment ; such 
cases are almost of every day's occurrence. The 
common popular notion that am inventor is differ- 
ent from other persons, in the original constitution 
of his mind, is a great mistake. The inventor is 
ordinarily regarded as a rare and peculiar produc- 
tion of nature, — a g'enius fitted for especial kinds of 
w^ork and occupied with special kinds of inven- 
tions that unfit him for other work. On the con- 
trary, a practical inventor is only a patient, pen- 
sive and ambitious worker who trained himself to 
inventing and is stimulated to action by the natural 
desire to better his financial condition by the use of 
his mental powers. Ingenuity is latent, to a greater 
or less degree, in every rational mind, and like 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 205 

every other faculty of the human mind, is capable 
of cultivation, augmentation and development 
through suitable impulses, instructions and a proper 
course of exercises. Practically every intelligent 
person possesses the prerequisite qualifications to 
inventing and may attain a certain degree of pro- 
ficiency in conceiving, devising and developing 
new and improved articles of commerce by a 
thoughtful and studious perusal of the subject- 
matter herein presented. 

I. Q. There are in this country so many ex- 
pert mechanics, learned mechanicians, brilliant 
scientists, and professional inventors. What chance 
does an ordinary citizen stand to make an inven- 
tion or improvement worthy of its name in the face 
of such formidable competition? 

A. This question suggests itself to every aspir- 
ing inventor who does not happen to be a great 
mechanic or scientist, and as a result thousands, or 
perhaps millions, of brilliant minds are detracted 
from entering the fertile fields of inventing ; many 
become discouraged at the thought of such superi- 
ors and drop the project they have already started; 
others are entirely prevented thereby from testing 
their mental powers. Let it be remembered that, 



2o6 LABOFISH^S GA^ECHtSM OF PAYENI^S 

notwithstanding all the expert mechanics, learned 
mechanicians, brilliant scientists and professional 
inventors, over 25,000 patents are issued every year 
and most of their inventors are neither expert me- 
chanics, learned mechanicians^ brilliant scientists 
noi* professional inventors, but ordinary common- 
sense men and women who have but a general 
knowledge, and some, perhaps, little or no knov\^l- 
edg*e of science or mechanics^ of such knowkdg^ as 
is incident with every intelligent person. Let it 
further be remembered tliat expert mechanics, 
mechanicians, scientists, etc., seldom, if ever, make 
a commercial invention, or in fact an invention of 
any kind; they usually bus}^ themselves with ex- 
perimenting on flying-miachines and similar diffi- 
cult problems which require a profound knowledge 
of science and mechanics. The prerequisites to 
inventing is not so much a matter of an appreciable 
knowledge of science and mechanics as of an ob- 
servant and reflective mind and a fixed and invin- 
cible determination tO' invent and improve articles 
and machinery of common use. 

The acquirement of a knowledge of science and 
m-echanics is usually the sequel to inventing. 
Thomas A. Edison, as the records show, possessed 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 207 

a very meagre knowledg'e of science and niechanics 
before he made his first invention, and so it is with 
every one of the great inventors of the past and the 
present generations, and in fact of every genera- 
tion. Histor}^ tells us that Fulton, the inventor of 
the steamboat, was an artist, not a machinist; 
Arkwright, the inventor of the spinning jenny, was 
a barber; Cartwright, the inventor of the power 
loom, was a clergyman ; and numerous other orig- 
inal inventors can be named to demonstrate the 
fact that a profound knowledge of science and me- 
chanics, while greatly desirable and unquestionably 
helpful, is not absolutely essential either to the con- 
ception or even to the legal development and reduc- 
tion to practice of a practical commercial inven- 
tion. Purpose, not talent, is the essential require- 
nicnt of a successful inventor. 

2. Q. How are inventions made by persons de- 
void of a knowledge of science and mechanics ? 

A. Laziness is said to be one parent of inven- 
tion^ and necessity the other. It takes two to make 
one. When a spirit of laziness encounters a pres- 
sure of necessity in a person possessed of an ob- 
servant, reflective and active mind they beget use- 
ful invention. The following allegorical allusion 



2o8 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

will illustrate how laziness' and necessity propagate 
useful invention, and incidentally instruct the read- 
er in the principles of inventing; that is, how to 
find out the result and the means for accomplishing 
the same; the:s£: Two move:me:nts constitute: 
inve:nting. 

A COMMON SE:NSE: INV^^NTOR, 

A farmer born and brought up in the couatry, 
without the benefit of an education of any kind, 
much less science and m'echanics,.was cutting grass 
with a scythe the whole of a forenoon. At noon 
time he, very naturally, felt tired. After disposing 
of the contents of his dinner pail he felt indisposed 
tc^ resume his work, so' he finally decided to^ go 
home and take a rest for the balance of the day and 
get up early in the morning and do a day and a 
half's work the next day. The next day it rained 
and he could not go out to do his work. The 
thought of the enormous amount of work of re- 
moving the grass from the fields when the rainy 
weather had already set in caused him g'reat mental 
strain and worry, so he set down wishing. He 
wished the good Lord would send down His angels 
and have them; cut ofif the grass for him while he 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 209 

was sleeping. Then he wished that one of his 
friends w^oiiid volunteer to do it for him. These 
wishes, however, he well knew would not be grati- 
fied, for neither his friends will do the work for 
him nor will the Lord go to the trouble of sending 
down His angels ; so* he beg'an to wish there was 
a machine that could do' that kind of work. This 
wish, toO', he knew would not be gratified, for there 
was then no such machine in existence. Not being 
able to leave the house, he thought he would make 
use of his leisure and mend his Sunday clothes, in 
which he happened to have a rent. 

While at work on his clothes cutting off a thread 
the mechanical action of the scissors attracted his 
attention and he wished there were large shears to 
cut the grass with instead of the scythe which tires 
the arms. He soon dismissed the idea of large 
shears, for they would be less effective and harder 
to manipulate, and continued to worry over the 
large field of grass he had tO' cut off with the ever- 
tiring scythe. A few moments later he again 
picked up the scissors and instinctively compared 
their action with that of a scythe or a knife, no- 
ticing with admiration how infallible the converg- 
ing blades are in taking in everything in their 



210 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

path; suddenly an idea flashed across his mind 
that a large number of small scissors would be 
more effective than the large shears or a scythe, if 
there were such a machine in existence. He be- 
gan to fancy, supposing there was a machine with 
a large number of little scissors so as to take a long 
row of gTass with little power to work them; 
would not that be a nice thing? But how is it 
possible to make a long row of scissors open 
and shut with but two hands? He dismissed 
the idea of a multifarious-scissors grass-cutting 
machine, and resumed his worry about the grass 
fields and the toilsome scythe, which he heartily de- 
spised. After he got through with his mending he 
thought he would take a tramp over to the rail- 
road station to while away his leisure time there, as 
is usual with indisposed country men, or even city 
dwellers. The reciprocating movement of the pis- 
ton of a slowdy approaching locomotive attracted 
his attention. A few moments of observation of 
the mechanical action of the reciprocating piston 
caused him impulsively to exclaim : Why, a large 
number of little scissors could be operated by a re- 
ciprocating bar and b}^ so^e such movement as that 
that works the piston ! Though he had no idea of 



And INVfiNT^IONS— how made. ^11 

patents and inventions, science and mechanics, and 
well knew that even if such a machine could be 
made his grass will now have to be cut off with the 
scythe, this idea of a large number of little scissors 
operated by a reciprocatory movable bar weighed 
lieavily upon his mind and he examined the move- 
ment of the piston and the action of the eccentric 
with more than ordinary interest. That day and 
the succeeding few days the reciprocatory movable 
piston, its eccentric and the number of little scis- 
sors operated thereby, occupied the lazy farmer's 
mind, and though the inventor had never seen the 
inside of a machine shop or read a scientific work 
in his life, this little incident, the consequences of 
laziness and necessity, gave birth to the mower and 
reaper, the most valuable time and labor-saving 
machines of the past and present age. 

THi: ACTIVITY O^ THE: MIND. 

An active mind draws material from things with- 
in its observation, not from books. It is astonish- 
ing to see how many ingenious, practical and use- 
ful inventions and improvemaits are being made 
l)y women, farmers, fishermen and persons that 
have practically no knowledge of science and me- 



212 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

chanics. It is still more astonishing that thousands, 
or perhaps millions, of our best and most skilful 
mechanics, mechanicians and scientists, talented 
and intellectual m^en and women, live and die in 
total obscurity, having never made an attempt to 
make an invention to leave at least a name behind 
them, if not fame and fortune; probably because 
their minds and souls are imbued with the erudi- 
, tion from which they can not afford to make a de- 
parture. Hundreds of manufacturers and thous- 
anda of skilled mechanics have been making the old 
toothed harrow for centuries; they undoubtedly 
tboug*ht it tO' be the acme of perfection, and that the 
thing could not be improved upon, until some coun- 
try man, perhaps no mechanic, invented the spring 
harrow, and another the disk harrow, and the third 
will invent still another form of harrow. And so it 
is with every line of industry; improvements are 
usually made by persons' having but a slight 
knowledge of science of mechanics and often even 
of the operative principles of the thing proper. 

The phrase ^Xaziness is the mother of invention'' 
probably had its origin in the fact that persons 
possessed of an active mind are often indisposed to 
do manual work, particularly during the time when 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 213 

their minds are playing off the overflowing activity, 
usually attributed by others to a spell of laziness; 
for active manual labor is practically impossible 
without the application of the mind, The hands re- 
fuse to work without the assistance of the mind. 
But more likely the phrase had its origin in the 
fact that when one is most perplexed about the slow 
and loathsome process of carrying on his work , if 
such person is of an inventive turn of mind he 
usually makes the most strenuous effort to devise 
some means for doing the work easier and faster. 
In this respect the lazier the person the better his 
invention. For the simpler an invention the more 
valuable it is commercially. 

valuabi^e: commkrciai. invi:ntions. 

Time and labor-saving means, devices and ma- 
chinery are the most valuable commercial inven- 
tions, and there is plenty of roonn for such inven- 
tions, waiting for active minds to fill it. The in- 
ventor of the rubber tip on the top of the pencil 
is said to have amassed an immense fortune out of 
his apparently insignificant invention, but in fact a 
very useful time-saving means. He was probably 
too lazy to hunt for his mischievous erasor which 



214 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

often found its way amongst the books and papers 
on the desk when it failed in its design tO' hide itself 
under the desk, so he conceived the idea of fasten- 
wg a piece of rubber on the top of the pencil so that 
i'" could not get away and is always ready for in- 
stantaneous use, thereby saving the time and 
trouble of hunting for it. Thousands of highly val- 
uable, useful and prattical inventions, both large 
and small, were made and are being made in some 
such way and under such circumstances without 
much knowledge of science and mechanics. 

The corollary of the foregoing illustrations is : 
Practice laziness. If you are doing manual work 
of any kind conclude that the means, devices or ma- 
chines you are now using are crude and impracti- 
cal and the process is slow and loathsome, and so 
they are. They will sooner or later be improved 
by so-mebody if you don't get at them. If you do 
not do manual work yourself watch others working 
and study their tools, means and machinery and 
try to improve them so as to make them do more 
work easier, or with a less number of operations, 
o!- easier of manipulation, etc. Scrutinize every- 
thing that comes under your observation and try 
to improve and perfect them. If there is any in- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 215 

genuity in you such a course will wake it up, bring 
it out and excite it to action. Never mind your 
lack of knowledge of science and mechanics, that 
will come to you naturally. 

invi:stigate; your mi:ntai, powe:rs. 

Let the reader examine himself or herself in the 
quietude of the night, on retiring, and search for a 
spark of ingenuity in his or her mental tempera- 
ment. If you find in yourself an aptitude to devise 
even the most trifling means for overcoming usual 
difficulties with which you meet in your regular 
work your inventive faculty is capable of being de- 
veloped upon lines herein suggested. 

HOW To acquire: a PRACTICAU WORKING KNOWI.- 

tDO^ o^ scii:nce: and me:chanics. 

If you aspire to become a practical inventor, you 
must first learn how to become a practical mechani- 
cian; not a theoretical, but a practical mechani- 
cian. Book knowledge is good, but it is of little 
assistance to the practical inventor ; the practical in- 
ventor must be guided by practical facts, not by 
theory. Get up some morning early and provide 



2i6 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

yourself with an alarm clock and a small screw 
driver ; make one out of a twelve-penny nail if you 
have none. Wind up the clock slowly and listen 
to the clicks it makes ; try to turn the thumb piece 
backw^ard. Observe that the clicking part does not 
yield, but the thumb piece unscrews. Stop for a 
few moments and guess what makes the thing click 
and turn one way and not the other. Watch the 
differential movement of the hands which when one 
njakes a complete revolution the other makes but 
one-twelfth part of a revolution, Conicentrate your 
mind on the subject and try to figure it out by 
what means it does it ; guess at it if you can. Of 
course, it is herein assumed that the reader is not 
a mechanician and has no knowledge of mechanical 
movements. Unscrew the cap of the clock and 
carefully remove the mehcanism from out of Its cas- 
ing; never pull, push or force any part that does not 
come out of its holdings readily, but examine it 
studiously and search f^r the thing that is holding 
it and release it carefuU)^. Examine the entire clock 
mechanism, the movement of the gearings the oscil- 
latory movement of the balance wheel, the move- 
ment of the escapment, and the shape of the palets. 
Study the motion it imparts and the recoiling action 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 217 

of the hair-spring-; study the ratchet and pawl 
action of the main-spring that chcks when it is 
w^ound up and studiously notice how the main- 
spring pays out generally at every movement of the 
balance wheel. Assidiously study, digest and com- 
prehend the entire operative principle of the spring 
m.otor, or clock work as it is often called, and the 
differentiation of the hour and minute hands, the 
alarm mechanism, etc. 

Satisfied that you clearl) comprehend the opera- 
tive principle upon which a clock operates, go to 
work boldly and confidently and dismember the en- 
tire mechanism, placing the parts and screws into 
a saucer or plate and cleaning them: with a soft piece 
of cheese cloth or a handkerchief. Examine the 
shape and formiation of every part, gear and pinion 
and proceed to reassemble the clock. If you have 
a pair of tweezers at hand they will come handy, 
if not, use your fingers instead. You need no other 
tools than a small screw driver, fingers and a fair 
stock of common sense. Replace systematically 
every part just as you remove it. Be cautious 
and use no other than your brain force to get things 
into their proper working position. Do not leave 
your seat until you make the clock work just as it 



^i8 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

did before 3^011 dismembered it, if not a little better. 
Oil all bearings, points and journals with a drop of 
machine oil mixed with a drop of kerosene oil, or a 
drop of typewriter oil, if you have it. Consult no- 
body and refuse all offers of assistance from smart 
friends or brothers in making the clock work sat- 
isfactorily; you must do it yourself, assisted by 
your native ingenuity and self-reliance only. You 
are sure to make the clock work better than it did 
before, if you have made up your mind to do it, 
even if you had never seen a clock before. 

Devote another long morning to your sewing 
machine; observe carefully, thoughtfully and stud- 
iously how and by what means the stitches are 
formed, how and by what means the work is car- 
ried along under the pressure foot, step by step, 
and how, and by what means, the thread is crossed 
and drawn up exactly in the middle of the texture 
01 between the twO' plies of m.aterial. Always learn 
to understand the reasons why and what produces 
such effects and examine the means accomplishing 
the results. Observe the vertical movement of the 
needle-bar and find out what sends it up and down 
alternately. Find out what produces the horizontal 
reciprocating movement of the shuttle; examine its 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 219 

co-operative parts * study how it intersects the path 
of the needle and engages the thread, etc. Then 
proceed dismemibering the machine, cleaning it 
thoroughly and reassemhle it, oiling all bearings 
and journals. Make the madiine work better if you 
possibly can, but at any rate you must never leave 
it in an inoperative or imperfect working conch - 
tion. Devote another morning to the door-lock, 
and still another morning to the electric bell ; learn 
the reasons why the hammer is attracted and re- 
pulsed alternately and in rapid succession when the 
button is pushed in and ceases when the pressure is 
released. Carefully dismember the bell and the 
button. Observe the connections at the battery and 
the lead of the wires from the push button to one 
pole of the battery, from the next pole of the bat- 
tery tO' one binding post of the bell, and fromi the 
second binding post of the bell back to the push but- 
ton again. Notice the connection at the push but- 
ton, how the twO' parts are separated, etc. Next take 
up some other piece of mechanism you may have in 
your house, such as a typewriter, piano, music-box, 
phonograph, gun, pistol, bicycle, carpet-sweeper, or 
any other piece of electrical or mechanical mechan- 
ism within your reach, studying it very carefully, 



220 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

observing its movements, the cooperation of its 
many parts, the transmission of motion and learning 
the operative principles of each and every one of 
them and the reasons why these things do so and so. 
Never tamper with any piece of mechanism until 
you have thoroughly comprehended all its move- 
mjents and the operative principle of every combi- 
nation of its parts. 

Devote a miorning to the study of combustion; 
take your night lamp and observe the effect of the 
augumented draft of the chimney upon the wick 
lamp, observe how the chimney prevents smoking 
and increases the illumination. Try a piece of 
metal tubing over your gas jet and observe the con- 
trasted effects. The flame will turn blue and the 
heat more intensified, due to the admixture of the. 
oxygen of the air of the draft along the tube. 
Study your blue-flame oil-stove, your gasoline stove 
and a gasoline torch and make it your business to 
inspect, investigate and scrutinize everything that 
comes under your notice in your house, shop or 
street. By scrupulously following the foregoing in- 
structions the reader will unconsciously acquire a 
good working knowledge of practical science and 
mechanics within a few days. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 22T 

the; inventor's busine:ss. 

The inventor's business is to condemn every- 
thing as crude, imperfect and impractical, no' mat- 
ter hov^ perfect the thing may appear to others. 
Fifty years ago everything appeared to be perfect 
and unalterable ; these perfect and unalterable 
things have been improved and altered during the 
last fifty years perhaps fifty times. Look at the 
sewing machine, the typewriter or the bicycle of 
twenty years ago, of ten years ago, or even oi one 
year ag^o and you will be surprised at their crude- 
ness and imperfectioii in their early stages; yet the 
operators and all the people of the world, except in- 
ventors, thought them to be most perfect and 
unalterable then. A few years ago the Caligraph 
typewriter was considered the most perfect thing 
and adorned every important office room in the 
country, but the inventors consigned it to- the junk 
pile; other machines took its place until the in- 
ventors got ready for them. Like the country man, 
who, having heard a shrewd salesman praise up an 
automobile and convincing the customer that it is 
the most perfect thing, put in a word and spoiled 
the game A\hen his employer opened his pocket- 



222 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

book tO' pay over the cash for the most perfect ma- 
chine, asked him incidentally, ^^What do you think 
of it, John?'' ''Well/' said John, the country man, 
''It is all very well, but the machine can not find 
its wa}^ home in the dark as the horses do." So the 
inventor; to him nothing is perfect and he finds 
fault with everything. When the Remington, 
Smith-Premier and other typewriter makers 
claimed perfection for their machines, the inventor 
said : ''Yes ; it is all very well ; you have good ma- 
chines, but the writing can not be seen without lift- 
ing up the paper carriage;" and there we have a 
host of visible writing machines in the market. 

HOW THl^ PR0CE:SS 01^ PROMOTING tU^ ARTS 

THROUGH the: ME:dIUM OF THK PATIENT 

IS CARRIED ON. 

To the superficial observer the process of promot- 
ing the arts and the patent system is a complete 
niystery. People wonder how it is possible that 
upon one original invention there are several hun- 
dreds of patents and every original invention is 
made in dozens of different styles. It is all due to 
our liberal patent laws and the inventor's never- 
ceasing activity. Howe made one sewing machine; 



AND INVENI'IONS— HOW MADE. ^23 

Singer made a similar sewing machine, but on a 
different principle. Wheeler and Wilcox made still 
another machine on still another principle, and so 
on. Thus we have several dozens of different 
styles of sewing machines. Professional inven- 
tors are always' on the alert for something new and 
produce new principles to gratify the different 
tastes of the people. When the clever sewing ma- 
cliine inventors have exhausted all the new prin- 
ciples of complete machines pO'Ssible, and competi- 
tion between the makers became hot, then the tailors 
and the women operators took up the task and 
began to improve upon the construction, operation 
and manipiilation of those machines, and invented 
attachments, devices and auxiliaries; thus a con- 
tinuous race for perfection was and {3 carried on 
from year to year. There are now perhaps a thou- 
sand patents on sewing machines and equally as 
many, more or less, on practically every commer-' 
cial invention and the active inventors floiirish and 
prosper and keep on making inventions upon in- 
ventions and improvements upon improvements. 
Thus the handiwork of men is carried along from 
year to year until perfection will some sweet day be 
attained, when the millennium will be ushered in 



224 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

and the world presided over by the ALL PER- 
FECT. 

obse:rvation and r]e:fi.e:ction. 

Studious observation and reflection are the most 
powerful impelling forces to invention and dis- 
covery. As previously remarked, the aspirant in- 
ventor must be a ceaseless observer ; he must also 
reflect upon remarks thrown out by persons or the 
press and profoundly meditate upon the subject. 
Many valuable inventions have been made by re- 
flective persons upon reading accounts of robberies, 
house breaking and safe cracking, devising means 
and ways for preventing repetitions. The inven-. 
tor mAist have his ears as well as his eyes open. 
When an account of a railroad accident, boiler ex- 
plosion or fire catastrophe is reported he should en- 
deavor to investigate the cause and devise means 
for preventing a repetition of the same. 

The following few brief, but very interesting, 
sketches of history of the most important inven- 
tions and' discoveries in the world, their origin, de- 
velopment and introduction, are introduced with a 
view to assisting the reader to a clear comprehen- 
sion of the subject discussed and impressing upon 



AND INVENTIONS—HOW MADE. 225 

his mind the importance of close observation of 
phenomenal effects and reflection upon rumored or 
reported difficulties with a view to supplying the 
deficiencies. 

HOW THi: ART O^ PRINTING WAS DISC0VE:r£:d. 

Laurence Coster, an old warden of the church of 
St. Bavon, in the quaint old town of Haarlem, Hol- 
land, tired of walking around in the woods, set 
down on the spreading root of some gnarled, old 
beech. Peeling off a scrap of bark he amiused him- 
self with fashioning it into various letters of the 
alphabet. He learned the practice in bygone days ; 
when a sturdy young fellow he came sighing to the 
woods, and his knife would carve no letters but 
those of one loved name ; and now, old and solemn, 
with grizzled head, he Hked tO' sit and cut alpha- 
bets for his children's children, to whom; he carried 
them. One day, having shaped the letters with 
more care and nicety than ordinarily, he wrapped 
them up in a piece of parchment he had with him. 
On reaching home and opening the packet, he was 
surprised to observe the clear and distinct im- 
pression which some of the bark letters, moist with 
sap, had left upon the parchment. This incident re- 



226 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

vealed to his obser\^ant and reflective mind the art 
of printing. He carved another set of letters, tak- 
ing care to reverse thenu sO' that the impression 
might give them in their proper position, and dip- 
ping one side of them in ink, pressed them upon a 
piece of parchment. The result was a print, rough 
and blurred, no doubt, but still nearly as good as 
the block pictures a,nd block-books which were 
sold in the shops, and thought a great deal of in 
those (lays. And there was this advantag^e about 
Coster's contrivance, that he had not to cut out a' 
separate block for each page of sentences, but 
could arrange and rearrange his letters of bark 
in any order he liked. Coster soon saw the superi- 
ority of his plan over the old-fashioned one, which 
was very tedious and expensive; and from being 
the chance amusement of an idle hour printing with 
letters became the chief and most interesting occu- 
pation of his life. The common ink being adapted 
to spread and leave an ugly blot instead of the out- 
line of the letters, Coster invented a thicker, more 
glutinous kind of ink, with wdiich he made clear, 
distinct impressions and could print entire pages, 
with cuts and characters. He also conceived the 
idea of forming letters of lead instead of wood, and 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. '22'] 

afterwards substituted pewter for lead as being 
harder and more durable. Contriving these expedi- 
ments and putting them intO' practice, the old 
church warden spent his declining years working 
away at the new art with great earnestness and en- 
thusiasm, in spite of all the foolish, mischievous 
gossips of ignorant folk in Haarlem who' hinted that 
he must have taken the devil instead of St. Bavon 
for his patron, or he would never have had a hand 
in such uncanny work. 

JOHN GUTTKNBE^RG. 

About the time that the warden of St. Bavon's 
church was engaged in his first essays at printing, a 
young pedestrian, with knapsack on his back and 
staff in his hand, trudged into Haarlem. This was 
John Guttenberg, of Mayence (or Manz), who 
had visited the chief places in Italy, Switzerland 
and Germany, and w^as on his way through Hol- 
land. The son of an aristocratic family, Gutten- 
berg had received the best education of the day; 
and a man of profound piety, as well as an accom- 
plished scholar, he had, even when a mere youth, 
deplored the general ignorance of religious mat- 
ters w^iich prevailed from the scarcity of books. 



228 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

He regretted that the great truths of rehgion 
should be locked up beyond the reach of the multi- 
tude in a small number of manuscript books, and 
ardently cherished the hope that some means might 
be ^ound of throwing open the treasury to the 
Vs' \ and giving wings to the truths that they 
r. fly to the uttermost parts of the earth. 

t Haarlem, Guttenberg made the acquaintance 
of : :ld Laurence Coster, who with no little exulta- 
tion disclosed tO' him the expedient he had: hit 
rpon for printing by means of types and showed 
him a copy of a Latin grammar as the fruit of his 
invention. Guttenberg had early become convinced 
that the circulation of literature he so eagerly de- 
sired to witness could only be brought about by the 
substitution of som.e rapid machine for the slow 
hand of the transcriber. Whether he had himself 
made any definite approaches to the contrivance of 
such a machine is not known; but the sight. of Cos- 
ter's primitive process either inspired him with the 
new idea on the subject, or spurred him on to car- 
ry into practice and to perfect those which had al- 
ready occurred to him. He now saw his way clear- 
ly to the end he held so important, and the next 
morning, feverishly impatient to commence opera- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 229 

tions, he left Haarlem and hurriedly retracted his 
steps to Strasberg, where on acount of some dis- 
pute with the authorities of his native town he had 
fixed his residence. 

Shutting himself up in his own room, seeing no 
one, rarely crossing the threshold, allowing him- 
self hardly any repose, he set himself to work out 
the plan he had formed. With a knife and some 
pieces of wood he constructed a set of movable 
types, oil one face of each of which a letter of the 
alphabet was carved in relief, and which were 
strung together in the order of words and sen- 
tences, upon a piece of wire. By means of these 
he succeeded in producing upon parchment a very 
satisfactory impression. 

To be out of the way of prying eyes, he took up 
his quarters in the ruins of the old monastery of 
St. Arbogaste, outside of the town which had long 
been abandoned by the monks to the rats and beg- 
gars of the neighborhood ; and the better to mask 
his designs, as well as to procure the necessary 
funds for his experiments, he set up a sort of arti- 
ficer in jewelry and metal work, setting and pol- 
ishing precious stones and preparing Venetial glass 
for mirrors, which he afterwards mounted in 



230 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

frames and carved wood. These avO)wed labors 
he openly practiced along with a couple of assist- 
ants in a public part of the monastery ; but in the 
depths of the cloister, in a dark, secluded spot, he 
fitted up a little cell, as the atelier of his secret op- 
erations ; and there, secured by bolts and bars and 
a thick oaken door against the intrusion of any one 
who might penetrate so far in the interior of the 
ruins, he applied himself to his great work. He 
quickly perceived, as Coster had also done by that 
time, the superiority of letters of metal over those 
of wood. He invented various colored inks, at once 
oily and dry, for printing with; brushes and rollers 
for transferring the ink to the face of the types ; 
''forms/' or cases, for keeping together the types 
arranged in pages; and a press for bringing the 
inked types and the paper in contact. 

Day and night, whenever he could spare an in- 
stant from his professional occupations, he devoted 
himself to the development of his great work. At 
night he could hardly sleep for thinking of it, and 
his hasty snatches of slumber were disturbed by 
agitated dreams. 

The enterprise throve; but misfortune was ever 
dogging Guttenberg's steps, and he had but a brief 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 231 

taste of prosperity. The priests looked with sus- 
picion upon the new art, which enabled people to 
read for themselves what before they had to take 
on trust from them. The transcribers of books — 
a large and influential guild — were also hostile 
to the invention which threatened to deprive them 
of their livelihood. These two bodies formed a 
league against the printers, and upon the head of 
poor Guttenberg were emptied all the vials of their 
wrath. 

Such is the traditional history of the first inven- 
tion of printing with movable types. The story 
about Laurence Coster comes to us through Hadrian 
Junius, a Dutch writer of the sixteenth century, 
who says it was transmitted from one generation 
to another ''as a hghted torch passes from hand 
to hand without being extinguished/' and that 
he himself had it from men of honor and stand- 
ing. A fierce controversy, however, rages between 
the Germans and the Dutch as to the origin of the 
invention ; and there are no means of exactly ap- 
portioning the amount of merit respectively due 
to Coster and Guttenberg. 



2^2 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

flow the: spinning j^nny was inve:nte:d. 

Ark w right, a poor barber, Hying in the midst 
of a manufacturing population, was accustomed 
to hear daily complaints of the continual difficulty 
of procuring sufficient weft to keep the looms em- 
ployed, while the exportation of cotton goods gave 
rise to a growing dem'?.nd for the manufactured 
article. The weavers generally had the weft they 
used spun for them by their wives or daughters, 
and those whose families could not supply the nec- 
essary quantity had their spinning done by their 
neighbors ; and even by paying, as they had to do, 
more for the spinning than the price allowed by 
their masters, very few could procure weft enough 
to keep themselves constantly at work. It was 
no uncommon thing, we learn, for a weaver to walk 
three or four miles in a morning and call on five 
or six spinners before he could collect weft enough 
to serve him for the rest of the day. Arkwright 
must have been hearing constantly of this difficulty, 
and of the restrictions it placed on the manufac- 
ture of cotton goods ; and being a mechanical gen- 
ius, was led to think how it might be lessened, if 
not got rid of altogether. The idea of having 
an automaton spinner, instead of one of flesh and 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 233 

blood, had occurred before then to more than one 
speculator ; but the thing had never answered, and 
no models or descriptions of the machine proposed 
were preserved. One inventor had, indeed, de- 
stroyed his ow^n machine, after having constructed 
and found it to work, for fear that if it came into 
use it would deprive the poor spinners of their live- 
lihood — in reality its effect would have been to 
provide employment and food for thousands more 
than at that time got a miserable living from their 
spinning-wheels. 

While Arkwright was intent on the discovery 
of perpetual motion, he fell in with' a clockmaker 
by the name of Kay, who assisted him in making 
wheels and springs for the contrivances he was try- 
ing to complete. This led to an intimate connec- 
tion between them; and when Arkwright had 
given up the perpetual motion affair, and applied 
his thoughts to the invention of some machines for 
producing cotton weft more rapidly than by the 
simple wheel, Kay continued to help him in mak- 
ing models. Arkwright soon became so engrossed 
in his new task, and so confident of ultimate suc- 
cess, that he began to neglect his regular business. 
All his thoughts, and nearly all his time, were given 



234 LABOFISH'S CATECHISAI OF PATENTS 

up to the great work he had taken in hand. Hia 
trade fell off; he spent all his savings in purchas- 
ing materials for models, and getting them put to- 
gether, and he fell into very distressed circum- 
stances. His wife remonstrated with him, but in 
vain ; and one day, in a rage at what she consid- 
ered the cause of all their privations, she smashed 
some of his models on the floor. Such an outrage 
was more than Arkwright could bear, and they 
separated. 

In 1768, Arkwright, having completed the model 
of a machine for spinning cotton thread, removed 
to Preston, taking Kay with him. At this time 
he had hardly a penny in the world, and was almost 
ir rags. His poverty, indeed, was such, soon after 
his arrival in Preston, where a contested election 
his arrival in Preston, where a contested election 
he was so tattered and miserable in his appearance, 
tliat the party with whom he voted had to give 
him a decent suit of clothes before he could be 
seen at the polling-booth. He had got leave to set up 
his machine in the dwelling-house attached to the 
Free Grammar School; but, afraid of suffering 
from the hostility of the spinners, as the unfortu-' 
uate Harjyreaves had some time before, he and 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 235 

Kay thought it best to leave Lancashire and try 
their fortune in Notting^ham. 

Poor and friendless, it may easily be supposed 
that Arkwright found it a hard matter to get any- 
one to back him in a speculation which people then 
regarded as hazardous, if not illusory. He got 
a few pounds from one of the bankers in the town ; 
but that was soon spent, and further advances were 
refused. Nothing daunted, Arkwright tried else- 
where for help, and at length succeeded in convinc- 
ing Messrs. Need and Strutt, large stocking weav- 
ers in the place, of the value of his invention, and 
inducing them to enter into partnership with them. 
In 1769 he took out a patent for the machine, as 
its inventor, and a mill, worked by horse power, 
was erected for spinning cotton by the new ma- 
chnie. Two years after, he and his partner set up 
another mill in Derbyshire, worked by a water 
wheel; and in 1775 he took out another patent 
for some improvements on his original scheme. 

The machinery which he patented consisted of 
a number of different contrivances ; but the chief 
of these, and the one which he paticularly claimed 
entirely as his own invention (for he frankly ad- 
mitted that some of the other parts were only de- 



5j6 LABOt'lSH'S CA1?ECH1SM 01^ PAl'ENTS 

velopments of other inventors), was what is called 
the water-frame throstle from drawing out the 
cotton from a coarse to a finer and harder twisted 
thread, and so rendering it fit to be used for the 
warp, or longitudinal threads of the cloth, which 
were formed of linen, as well as the weft. This 
apparatus was a combination of the carding and 
spinning machinery; and the principle of having 
two pairs of rollers, one revolving faster than the 
other, was now for the first time applied to ma- 
chinery. 

In a year or two the success of Arkwright's in- 
vention was fairly estabHshed. The manufacturers 
were fully alive to its importance, and Arkwright 
now reaped the reward of all his toil. 

HOW THK POWKR-I^OOM WAS INVE:nTe:d. 

A number of gentlemen were chatting, after din- 
ner, in a country house at Matlock in Derbyshire. 
Some extensive cotton mills had recently been set 
up in the neighborhood, and the conversation 
turned upon the wonderful inventions which had 
been introduced for spinning cotton. There were 
one or two gentlemen present connected with the 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 237 

"manufacturing interest/' who were very bitter 
against Arkwright and his schemes. 

''If s all very well,'' said one of the grumblers, 
''but what will all this rapid production of yarn 
lead to? Putting aside the ruin of the poor spin- 
ners who will be starved because they haven't as 
many arms as these terrible machines, you'll find 
that it will end in a great deal more yarn being spun 
than can be w^oven into cloth, and in large quanti- 
ties of yarn being exported to the continent, where 
it will be worked up by foreign weavers, tO' the in- 
jury of our hose manufacture. That will be the 
short and the long of it ; mark my words." 

"Well, but, sir," remarked a grave, portly, mid- 
dle-aged gentleman of clerical appearance, after 
a few minutes reflection, "when you talk of the im- 
possibility of the weaving keeping up with the spin- 
ning, you forget that the machinery m'ay be applied 
to the former as well as the latter. Why may there 
not be a loom contrived' for working up yarn as 
fast as the spindle produces it. That long-headed 
fellow Arkwright must just set about inventing 
a weaving machine." 

"Stuff and nonsense," returned the "practical 
man" pettishly, as though it were hardly worth 



238 LA]^>OFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

while noticing the remarks of such a dreamer^ 
*'You might as well bid Arkwright grow the oloth 
ready made. Wea^dng by machinery is utterly im- 
possible. You must remember how much more 
complex a process it is than spinning, and what 
variety of mo\'ements it involves. Weaving by 
miachinery is a mere idle vision, my dear sir, and 
sho'ws you know nothing about the operation.'' 

*^Well, I must confess my ignorance on the sub- 
ject of weaving/' replied the clergyman; ''but 
surely it can not be a more complex matter than 
mioving the pieces in a game of chess. Now, there's 
an automaton fig'ure now exhil^iting in London, 
which handles the chess men and places them on 
the proper squares of the board, and makes the 
most intricate mo\^es, for all the world as if it 
were alive. If th .L can be done, I don't see wdiy 
weaving should ba lie a clever machinist, A few 
years ago we should have laughed at the notion 
of doing what Arkwriglit has done; and I'm cer- 
tain that before many years are over we shall have 
'weaving Johnnies,' as well as 'spinning Jennies.' " 

Dr. Cartwright, for that was the clergyman's 
name, confidently as he foretold that machine* 
weaving would be devised 1>efore long, little 



AND INVENTIONwS-^HOW MADE. 239 

dreamed at that moment that he himself was to 
bring about the fullihiient of his own prediction. 
A quiet, country clergyman of hterary tastes, a 
scholar and poetaster, he had spent his life hither- 
to in the discharge of his ministerial duties, writ- 
ing articles and verses, and had never given the 
slig'htest attention to mechanics, theoretical or prac- 
tical. He had never so much as seen a loom at 
work, and had not the remotest notion of the prin^ 
ciple or mode of its construction. But the chance 
conversation at the Matlock dinner table suddenly 
roused his interest on the subject. He walked 
home meditating on what sort of a process weav- 
ing must be; brooded over the subject for days 
and weeks — was often observed by his family strid- 
ir.g up and down the room in a fit of abstraction, 
throwing his arms from side to side like a weaver 
jerking the shuttles — and at last succeeded in 
evolving, as the Germans would say, from '^the 
depths of his moral consciousness" the idea of a 
power-loom. With the help of a smith and a car- 
j^enter he set machines, and at length, after five or 
?'x months' application, turned out a rude, clumsy 
n-e^e of work, which was the basis of his invention. 
''The warp," he says, 'Svas laid' perpendicularly, 



240 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

the reed fell with the force of at least a hundred 
weight, and the springs which threw the shuttle 
were strong enough to have thrown a Congreve 
rocket. In short it required the strength of two 
powerful men to work the machine at a slow rate, 
and only for a. short time. This being done, I then 
condescended to see how other people wove ; and 
you will guess my astonishment when I compared 
their easy modes of operation with mine. Avail- 
ing myself of what I then saw, I made a loom in 
its general principles nearly as they are now made; 
But it was not till the year 1787 that I completed 
my invention.' ' 

Having given himself to the contrivance of a 
loom that should be able to^ keep pace in the work- 
ing up of the yarn with the jenny which produced 
it, solely from motives of philanthropy, he felt 
bound, now that he had devised the machine, to 
prove its utility and bring it into use. To have 
stopped with the work of invention would, he con- 
ceived, have been to leave the work half undone; 
and .therefore, at no slight sacrifice of personal in- 
clination, and to the rupture of all old ties, asso- 
ciations, and ways of life, he quitted the ease and 
seclusion of his parsonage, abandoned the pursuits 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 241 

which had formerly been; his deUght, and devoted 
himself to the promotion of his invention. 

3. Q. What are my chances to invent small, 
simple things? 

A. The state of the art in every branch of in- 
dustry is now worked up to a very high pitch, so 
that not very many absolutely new and original 
inventions, especially small, simple and of general 
utility, can be expected. Improvement is the or- 
der of the age, and there is plenty of room for good 
improvement. Almost everything now in com-* 
mon use will yield to improvement, and improve- 
ments will be made upon improvements until the 
end of time. 

4. Q. Are there not things that can not be 
im.proved ? 

A. Possibly there are; but if they can not be 
improved they can be altered, which is often equally 
beneficial, and if not beneficial is profitable any- 
way. It appears that the most unalterable thing 
can be altered ; for instance, ever since horses have 
been created and wagons invented, the driver's po- 
sition was in front of the passengers. Where is 
his position now? Behind the passengers. A few 



242 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

years hence his position will probably be over the 
passengers, and befol'e the world comes to an end 
we may find him under the vehicle, or in front of 
the horses, or some place that is a future possi- 
bility of wdiich we can not think at present. 

5. O. Is alteration patentable? 

A. No; not in itself, but it is patentable with 
the change of the compoiient parts of the machine 
or manufacture which must necessarily take place 
when a thing is altered. Thus, the construction 
of the elevated seat back of the cab is patentable, 
and the alteration of the position of the seat is pat- 
entable in conjunction with the elements of con- 
struction of the seat and' the adjoining parts. 

6. O. If a person has conceived an idea of a 
machine to perform a certain function, but, not 
being a mechanic, he is unable to work out his idea 
tc make the invention operative and commercially 
practical, has he a right to employ an inventor to 
work it out for him? 

A. This is a very important question, and to 
answer it intelligently will require a lengthy reply. 

As noted in answer tO' question 22, an effect or 
a function is not, as such, a patentable invention. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 243 

It therefore follows that if you go to an improver 
and tell him that you have conceived the idea of 
running a plow, for instance, without horses, but 
not being a mechanic you are unable to work it out 
and want him to do it for you, you have absolutely 
no claim to the invention if he does work out your 
idea of a horseless plow and applies for a patent 
for himself, unless you make a legal contract with 
him in which he agrees to execute the application 
papers and assign such an invention tO' you. Why ? 
Because you had no tangible invention, but an ef- 
fect, or a function, wdiich in itself is not patent- 
able (see answer to question 13). But if you 
should gO' to an improver and tell him that you 
have conceived the idea that, by mounting a plow 
on two wheels that are made rigid on an axle, and 
the axle journaled in bearings formed in the two 
handles of the polw, and an electric motor mounted 
between the two handles and geared tO' the axle so 
that the rotating of the armature revo'lves the axle 
with the wdieels and thereby propels the plow, 
etc. — if the improver worked out your idea and 
made it operative and practical, you alone would 
have the right to the invention. This would still 
hold true even if, in order to make your invention 



:544 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

operative, the improver had to change the location 
of the motor; or perhaps he could not at all use 
an electric motor, as you suggested, because he 
knew that to run the motor it w^ould require a box 
full of storage batteries, about which you knew 
nothing, and that it would not be practical to carry 
along a box of storage batteries with the plow on 
rough fields and over plowed ground ; so he fitted 
the plov/ with a gasoline or steam engine. And 
instead of using gearings as you suggested, he used 
a belt and pullies, or a chain and sprockets, or a 
rope to transmit power from the engine to the axle; 
and although he provided means for lifting the 
plow out of contact with the ground so that it could 
be wheeled along from one place to another, of 
which means you did not think at all. Further- 
more, he provided adjustments for different deptha 
in the soil and numerous other little things that 
were necessary tO' reduce the invention to a prac- 
tical and operative form about which you knew 
nothing, you are, in the eye of the law, the sole and 
original inventor of that plow, and he, the im- 
prover, would have no claim against the invention 
except for compensation for the work, because 
your description of the plow was sufficiently tangi- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 24I 

ble for an expert mechanician to make a working 
machine of it. 

, 7. Q. Would I be entitled to the changed and 
additional features, though I did not invent them ? 

A. Yes ; you would be entitled to the changed 
and additional features, because you conceived the 
main principle of the machine. The ru'le of law 
is that one who' empowers another person to make 
experiments upon his own conception for the pur- 
pose of perfecting it in detail, is entitled tO' the own- 
ership of such improvements in the conception as 
may be suggested by such other persoii. The sec- 
ond person is not, in law, to be regarded as 
an independent and original inventor. The 
changed features are termed, in law, ^^equiva- 
lents;" they are equivalent to the means you 
suggested. The additional features, such as 
the adjustments, the third wheel, etc., the law 
presupposes that if you were a mechanic you 
would have invented them yourself; but as you 
are not, you had a right to employ someone who 
is proficient in the art to invent them for you, and 
they are yours. 

8. Q. As I am not a mechanic, how am I going 



246 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

to develop and work out my idea to the point of 
enabling me to submit it to an improver? 

A. I will give you some practical instructions 
on how to go about it. These instructions apply, 
of course, to every other kind of machine, device 
or thing you may conceive. To find out what to 
invent, or the function it is desirable to accomplish, 
is, as previously stated, the all-important. After 
you have conceived the function and know just 
what tool, machine or implemjent you wish to de- 
vise to accomplish that function, the rest is com- 
paratively easy. Proceed as f ollotws : Get up early 
in the morning, when your brain is fresh, your head 
clear, and your body recuperated, and put on your 
thinking- cap. Have a sheet of paper and a pencil 
before you ready for use, and begin to discuss the 
matter with your inner self. 

Directing your thoughts to the subject, speak 
to yourself audibly in this manner: ''What I wish. 
to accomplish is to substitute some mechanical 
]:iower for that of a horse tO' drag the plow along 
in a straight line." Scrutinizing the effects and 
functions of the invention you wish to develop, you 
will say, ''Well, then, let me see; what is a plow 
and what is a mechanical power? 1 will analyze 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 247 

the functions of each and then see how the two 
could be comibined sO' as to perform the new func- 
tion of a horseless plow and thus dispense with 
the ever-tiring old horse and use power instead." 
Ask yourself the question, ^'What is a plow?'' and 
you will naturally answer, ''A plow is nothing mora 
than an iron implement buried in the ground, 
which by dragging it along the field in a straight 
line leaves a furrow^ of a certain depth in the 
ground/' Ask yourself the question, ''What is an 
engine?" and you w^ill answer, ''An engine, or 
other mechanical power, is nothing but an auto-: 
matically rotating shaft; by belting or gearing 
the rotary shaft of the power tO' another rotatabk 
shaft, the power will rotate the latter shaft." Here 
you will probably say, "But a plow does not have 
to be rotated, but dragged. The only way I can 
see to accomplish my object would be to employ 
a traction engine tO' drag the plow just as the 
horse does ; but that would never do ; for you can 
not call out to a traction engine as you could to a 
horse; there would have to be an engineer to guide 
the engine and a plowman to guide the plow. Tliat 
will never do. I guess it can not be done and that 
is why it was not done before. I will give it up." 



248 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

But wait; do not forget that you are here to do 
some thinking. Then do what you determined 
to do. 

Every inventor meets with the same fate as you 
did. After spending an hour cr two in profound 
thinking, and analyzing the functions of the idea 
he conceived in the manner hereinbefore described, 
he concludes that his object is unattainable, and 
that because it can not be done, is the reason why 
it was not done before. This is simply the effect 
of the natural, or rather unnatural, inertia of yo^ur 
inventing faculties against which you have to 
struggle, and which you must face and combat man- 
fully. The machine or horseless plow you are 
working on would have been carried into effect 
before, but you wxre the first one who conceived 
that idea. Inventing is like finding a thing that 
was lost; hundreds of persons might have been 
looking for the same thing and perhaps on the same 
spot and given it up as lost forever, yet one persist- 
ent searcher found it and is therefore entitled to 
the reward; perhaps not so much for the finding 
as for his persistency. It is quite possible that hun- 
dreds of persons thought that a horseless plow 
would be a great success, but have never started 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 249 

to work it out, or perhaps started but abandoned 
it as you would now. Follow my directions, sir, 
and see what results persistency will accomplish. 
Take up your subject with renewed determination 
to carry your project to a finish, reasoning with 
yourself earnestly. You will very soon say to 
yourself this: *^A traction engine travels itself; 
supposing I attach the mould board with its plow 
share direct to the engine instead of dragging it 
as a horse does; the man who will guide the en- 
gine will guide the plow. But what am^ I talking 
about ? The plow doesn't need guiding at all. If 
the plow is rigidly secured to the engine, the plow 
can not get away. All the man will have to do will 
be to guide the engine in a straight hne; the plow 
can not help making a straight furrow. Well, that 
seems to be all right, but a traction engine is a very 
troublesom.e, costly and clumsy thing. An ordi- 
nary plow^ boy could not manage a steam engine 
very well ; it would require an engineer. < An elec- 
tric motor would be just the thing for that purpose. 
It is light, easy to manage, and it doesn't cost a3 
miuch; but an electric motor can not travel itself, 
as a steam en^'iiie does." 

Get up and pace the floor a few minutes with 



250 tABOFlSH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

your mind still bent on the electric motor. Say, 
**No; nothing else will do; I must apply an elec- 
tric motor to my plow." Then resume your think- 
ing. Reason with yourself and criticise the prac- 
ticability of every idea that suggests itself. The 
process is slow but sure. Go about it systematic- 
ally, as previously sugg*ested, and do not let your 
niind wander away from your subject or let any 
thought enter your mind that your object is unat- 
tainable. Iterate and reiterate that an electric mo- 
tor would' dO' the work nicely and that it can be 
done and it must be done. Your intense concen- 
tration o'f mind on the subject, and your conclu- 
sion that an electric motor would be the only suit- 
able power for that purpose, and that there must 
be a way of applying a motor to that purpose, and 
that there must be a way of applying the motor to 
drag a plow, will take you back to your analysis of 
mechanical powers. Reason will whisper in your 
ear and you will say to yourself that ''Since an 
electric motor, like a steam engine, is nothing but 
a rotary shaft, it is evident that by mounting the 
motor on wheels, the motor would rotate the 
wheels just as the traction engine does. Now if 
a plow should be attached to the axle of those wheels 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 251 

which are propelled by the motor, the motor will 
propel the plow just as a traction engine would." 
You will now become enthusiastic over your 
invention. You will have before your mind's eye 
a fairly good picture of a horseless plow propelled 
by a neat little electric motor. ''This plow/' you 
will say, ''could easily be managed by a plowman ; 
to start it, all he would have to do Avould be to 
touch a button or close the switch/' but a few min- 
utes later you may again become discouraged and 
you wili reason with yourself thus : "To gear the 
motor to the four wheels will make the machine 
clumsy and expensive; and then, how on earth 
am I going to gear the motor to the four wheels, or 
even to two wheels only, if that could be done? and 
to what shall I attach the mould board?" etc. 
Don't let up for a minute. Make up your mind 
once and forever that you must work out this ma- 
chine, come what may, even at the expense of miss- 
ing your breakfast, your dinner, and even your 
supper that day ; it must be done, and it must be 
done to-day. A few minutes of intense concen- 
tration of mind on the subject, and an idea is sure 
to flash into your mind. You will wake up as from 
a trance and say : "Why, I can make the thing run 



252 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

on two wheels only, and make the two wheels rigid 
upon the axle and then gear the motor to the axle 
instead of to the wheels. That certainly is a great 
improvement over the idea of gearing the motor 
to the four wheels, or even to two wheels. Now 
I am all right ; so far so good. But where shall 
I place the plow ? I think in front of the wheels, 
just about in the middle between the two wheels, 
would be the best place, because the pressure upon 
the plow w^ould be evenly distributed; and, let me 
see, as I don't need any more than twO' wheels for 
that plow, I can have a little wheel at some con- 
venient point near the mould board that would do 
to gauge the depth of the plow share in the soil, 
to prevent the plow irom burying itself too deep 
into the soil, and to wheel the plow about the fields. 
So far I am all right, sure enough; but how am 
I going to connect the mould board to the wheels ? 
Why this is easy; I will just remove the ordinary 
w^ooden handles from the plow^ and bolt on two 
iron arms to the beam. These I will spread out 
so that the space between them is equal to the 
length of the axle between the two wheels, and to 
the ends of these arms I will bolt on two bearing 
boxes, or perhaps, I will just bend the forward ends 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 253 

so as to embrace and hold the axle revoluble in 
them." 

Within two or three hours of profound think- 
ing you will have a fairly good idea of the horse- 
less plow you wish to create. As soon as you have 
the general outline of the plow in 3^our mind, sketch 
it out so that you will be able, at least, to identify 
the parts of the plow, axle and wheels, even though 
you can not make a good sketch. Having gone so 
far, here is wdiere you are apt to again become dis- 
couraged. You will say to yourself, ''As I am not 
an electrician and have not the slightest idea of how 
electric motors are built, how am I going to sketch 
an electric motor and connect it with the axle?" 
Well, don't get discouraged; just make a square 
or cylinder tO' represent the motor (see sketch) 
and have a shaft projected from that square or cyl- 
inder ; next run two parallel lines from that shaft 
to the axle and make a series of cross lines that 
will make the two lines appear like a step ladder ; 
these will represent the gear teeth of the gearing. 
You Avill now have a fairly good sketch from which 
a good improver could make out the details, and 
a practical patent attorney could prepare the case 
for the Patent Office. 



254 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

These instructions are not mere conjectures or 
theorems, but a practical course of procedure such 
as I myself pursue and one which is practiced by 
all practical inventors, and you can take them for 
ah they are worth to you. 

Remember, now, the essential steps to be taken : 
I. Analyze the functions of the idea yoii wish to 
reduce tO' practice, also the functions of the old 
or existing machinery upon which you are im- 
proving; 2. Criticise every idea that suggests itself; 
3- Hold your mind concentrated upon the subject, 
and talk to }^^ourself audibly, as if you were talking 
to some person who is advising^ you to employ a 
certain mechanical mieans to accomplish a certain 
function and tell him (your own self) no, that won't 
do, it will be too costly tO' make, it will look too 
clumsy, or it Vv^ill be too heavy, complicated or 
intricate to manage, etc; 4. Be determined not to 
leave the room until you have a fairly good picture 
of your invention that looks to you practical; re- 
xolvQ your ideas in your mind and look at your 
sketch every few minutes until you are satisfied that 
it is the best you can do. 

Another imi)ortant point worthy of close atten- 
tion is, that when you have conceived an idea of 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. ^55 

aoccmplishing a certain function^ do not start to 
work at it at once, but revolve it in your mind sev- 
eral days and consider the commercial end of it. 
When you are satisfied that j^our scheme, if car- 
ried out successfully, will be a commercial success, 
then work away as suggested and bring your proj- 
ect to a finish. Follow these instructions faithfully, 
and if you do not make a success of your first, sec- 
ond or third invention, do not get discouraged, but 
work away until you hit upon something good, 
and you are sure to hit it some day, if you perse- 
vere. 

9. Q. No doubt, by following the foregoing 
instructions I woukl be able to reduce an idea to a 
practical form and make a fairly good sketch 
thereof. But suppose I should send the sketch to 
an improver, and ask him to work it out for me ; 
if he sees it is a good thing, he might work it out 
and get out a patent for himself. What could I 
do if he should deny the fact that I sent him a 
sketch and disclosed to him my invention? 

A. This is extremely unlikely to happen, for 
the person would sul>ject himself to imprisonment: 
but to guard you against such remote possibilities 
I will give you further instructions, which wiH be 



256 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

useful for other purposes as well and prevent pos- 
sible complications. 

Carefully review the sketch again and again 
several times and see if the machine or thing you 
were working on is as good as you can make it. 
Try to supply all the deficiencies yourself if you 
possibly can. Then write a letter to the person to 
whom you are going to send the sketch, telling him 
the objects of your invention and all the advan- 
tages you think your invention possesses over oth- 
ers in that line; then explain the sketch to him 
minutely, referring tO' it by letters in this man- 
ner : ^'A is supposed to- be one wheel of the horse- 
less plow." Here make a stroke or leader, as it is 
called, from the letter A to the wheel (see sketch). 
''B is the second wheel, C the axle upon which the 
tw^o wheels are rigidly secured so as to revolve with 
the wheels, D is the mould board, B the plow 
share,'' etc. Mark the letters upon the sketch as 
you write the letter, and proceed marking every 
line or dot that appears on your sketch that has 
any meaning, explaining what such a line or dot 
represents. Write freely and fully, without frills, 
just as if you were telling the news of your inven- 
tion of a horseless plow to your brother and tried 



AND INVEN^nONS— HOW MADE. 257 

to make him understand the invention shown in 
the sketch. When the description is finished, make 
an exact duplicate thereof and an exact duplicate 
of your sketch. Place one sketch and one descrip- 
tion into an envelope and seal it. Take the sealed 
envelope to the post-office and put a ten-cent stamp 
on it and address it to yourself; have it registered 
and mailed to you. Next morning when you get 
the envelope containing your sketch and descrip- 
tion, be sure you don't open it, but put it away for 
safe keeping. The post-office stamp upon the en- 
velope lap makes this document an efficient evi- 
dence in matters of controversy. The second 
sketch and description should be submitted to a 
competent patent attorney first, or, if you wish to 
send them to me, enclose them in an envelope with a 
five dollar bill for a thorough preliminary examina- 
tion of the patent records and address the envelope 
thus: '^C. S. Labofish, Washington, D. C^ Have 
il" registered and mailed to me. Keep the receipt 
of this registered letter, together with your regis- 
tered letter. You will then have the most effective 
evidence to prove that you are the original in- 
ventor, and that you have disclosed your invention 
to me, if complications of any kind should ever arise. 



258 LABOFISH'S CATECHlSAI OF PATENTS 




lo. Q. What will become of the sketch and the 
description after the preliminary examination has 
been made? 

A. If your invention contains appreciable pat- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW AIADE. 259 

entable matter your attorney will take up the study 
of your sketch, and if the deficiencies are merely 
^structural he will supply them -himself upon the 
receipt of your order to prepare the case. If, how- 
ever, the deficiencies are of such a character that 
he can not legally supply them himself, he will ad- 
vise you what to do in accordance with the circum- 
stances the case may present. Select the best and 
anost competent patent attorney and place your un- 
divided confidence in him; if you have an able man 
he w^ill look after your interests and direct your 
;aiTairs to the best of his skill, judgment and ability 
which wall be to your advantage. If your invention 
is seriously anticipated by a prior patent, the true 
^attorney will not advise filing an application, but 
will send you copies oi such patents for your in- 
spection, point out the anticipated parts or functions 
and perhaps point you out some means of overcom- 
ing the reference, if such be practical. But the 
bogus attorney will advise and guarantee a patent 
no matter how^ anticipated the machine is. 

By following the instructions of the preceding 
pages it is hardly probable that the reader will ever 
have much use for an improver; but should the 
invention be of such a character as to render me- 



26o LABOKISH'S CATECHIvSM OF PATENTS 

chanical assistance before the filing oi the appH- 
cation inavoidable, he should have his attorney han- 
dle the matter for him. 

II. O. My friend had a patent granted to him 
several years ago. He had a model made of his 
invention at a cost of several hundred dollars and 
spent about $ioo in advertising his patent in news- 
papers, magazines and scientific journals, but he 
has never made a dollar out of it. What is the 
probable cause of his failure? 

A. It is quite probable that your friend has 
a patent that secures to him, so to speak, the full 
enjoyment of a shadow that is cast by an object 
upon a building lot, and that by virtue of his patent 
he owns neither the object nor the building lot, 
but the shadow. How do you expect him' to make 
money out of a shadow? There are thousands 
of such patents in existence; they are mere shad- 
ows of patents and therefore absolutely worthless. 
The reason for such a multitude of worthless pat- 
ents is, either the inventors had but shadows of 
inventions and therefore have shadows o'f patents, 
or the inventors have shadows of patents though 
they have real inventions and because of their at- 
torneys who wer(^ incapable of procuring for themi 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 261 

patents that would have secured to them the real 
things instead of shadows only. In either case 
these inventors have but sh^.dows of patents, which 
entitle them to the full enjoyment of shadows only, 
and nothing more. 

One who has a real invention and a real patent 
for it, though his invention is an absolute commer- 
cial failure, would be very likely to make some 
money out of it. To demonstrate this fact we will 
say, by way of example, that your friend had a 
patent for a toy revolver which to manufacture 
would cost about 15 cents; but as toy revolvers 
can not be retailed for more than 25 cents, and as 
the jobber must have a commission of 10 per cent., 
and the retailer must, on such seasonable goods, 
make a profit of 50 per cent., the project is a flat 
failure. But when your friend's patent was issued, 
its claims were published in the Official Gazette 
of the Patent Office and read by all those attorneys 
w^ho were interested in your friend's invention be- 
cause they have gun and ordnance manufacturers 
for clients. Thus, if the claims of }^our friend's 
patent covered every phase of the invention 
broadly, though he thinks he had but an invention 
in a toy revolver, these attorneys would have called 



262 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OP PATENTS 

the attention of their cHents to the invention ; be- 
cause the toy revolver operated on a new princi- 
ple, and that principle may be appHed to a Hotch- 
kiss revolving cannon or a rapid firing gun, etc., 
of which your friend never dreamed,, but which 
his claims could have covered nevertheless. Your 
friend would have probably heard from some of 
these manufacturers within ninety days after date 
of issue O'f his patent, and sold the toy for a snug 
little sum. 

Such cases are of frequent occurrence. Inven- 
tions that are an absolute commercial failure In the 
line for which they were originally intended are 
often a great success in a different branch of indus- 
try of the same class. Every inventor is entitled 
to such claims as would' secure to him the right 
of appHcation of his invention to a different branch 
in the same class, and with all the necessary con- 
nections therefor of which he did not think at the 
time. When an inventor holds a good patent, with 
predominating claims, he will be paid for it by 
some person or company who may want his claims, 
not his invention. Often one files an application 
for some machine of very promising commercial 
possibilities, but his application is rejected on some 



AND IxNVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 262, 

crude and commercially worthless toy or other 
insignificant machine embodying the operative 
principle of the invention, and because there are 
such claims on the crude thing that would prevent 
the inventor of the practical invention from mak- 
ing it, the rejected inventor is compelled to buy 
the patent for the crude article at any cost. Thus, 
we see that the patent is the all important. With 
it one is apt to make money, even if he has a com- 
mercially worthless invention, and without it he 
can not make anything out of his best and most 
promising invention. Inventors should therefore 
strive to procure patents of the highest order, evenj^ 
for the simplest and apparently the most insignifi- 
cant invention. 

12. Q. Why does the Patent Office grant pat- 
ents for mere shadows on inventions, and shadows 
of patents for real inventions? 

A. The reason for it is: obvious, when the fol- 
lowing facts are clearly understood : The sole ob- 
ject of granting- patents is, as we have seen in an- 
swer to question 2, to the end of promoting science 
and the useful arts. This being so, the Patent 
Office does not look to the commercial end of in- 
ventions. Its doctrine is that every improvement 



264 LABOFlvSH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

on a thing, however slight, if it is at all useful, 
tends to perfect that thing. Furthermore, the Pat- 
ent Office is a scientific institution, and its operators 
are scientists, theoretical men, not practical me- 
chanics. Thus, if an invention is so described as 
to appear theoretically useful, or if only not per- 
nicious, the Patent Office must, in accordance with 
the laws, grant a patent therefor (see answer to 
question i6.) Hence, the granting of patents for 
slight and commercially worthless improvements, 
I2, as far as the Patent Office is concerned, just 
and proper. As to the granting of shadows of 
patents for real inventions, we must remember that, 
as remarked in answer to question 61, the Patent 
Office is the grantor, and as such, it need not grant 
anything that the grantee is not asking for, or he 
is striving to obtain. The shadows of patents for 
real inventions are thus not the fault oi the Pat- 
ent Office, but of the inventor's attorney, who did 
not strive to obtain that to which his client was 
rightfully entitled, and thus secured but the shadow 
of the patent privilege his client should have en- 
joyed. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 265 

PART III. 

How to Make Money Out qf 2>w Patent. 

A SKRIKS O^ PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS. 

The following don'ts, if scrupulously heeded^ 
will curtail the usual waste of enormous sums of 
money by inventors and patentees to an apprecia- 
ble extent and will be productive of much better 
results than the methods usually employed to- dis- 
pose of, or otherwise make money out of, a patent : 

I. Don't let your pending application go to al- 
lowance without having some competent patent 
attorney inspect it to see if your attorney of record 
has secured to you all the claims you were entitled 
to. If he has not, you can demand of him to do 
so. He need not know that the case has been in- 
spected by another attorney, as he will have no 
notice of it from the Patent Office. The cost for 
inspection of a pending appHcation (which is usu- 
ally about $5 if the inventor can furnish the ref- 
erences found at the preliminary examination) 
may save you the cost and trouble of a reissue pat- 
ent and secure to you claims that will be worth 
considerable more than ten times the cost of irii- 



266 LABO'FISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

spection. Remember that if you have a patent 
that does not protect your invention thoroughly, 
you have nothing to seh. 

2. Don't build a model of your invention until 
your patent has been officially allowed; unless your 
invention is an improvement on an article you man- 
ufacture, or it is of a nature that the Patent Office 
would recjuire a model. Often an inventor spends 
several hundred dollars on experimental work, on 
the opinion of patentability rendered to him by his 
patent attorney, but when the application is filed, it 
is partly or wholly rejected on a prior patent, which 
the attorney failed to notice, or a caveat, or a pend- 
ing application which could not be foreseen, so that 
the result is that the inventor gets but a narrow 
patent hardly worth its cost, and all the money 
he has spent on the model will be entirely lost to 
him; for he is not likely to realize a dollar from 
that patent. In interference cases a model has 
some Httle weight, but not enough to justify its 
cost. The prior applicant has the greater ad- 
vantage. File your application as soon as possi- 
l)le, and when the application is officially allowed 
and the claims are of a nature as to secure to you 
an important part of the invention, then go to work 



AND tNVENflONg— HOW MADE. 26? 

and have a perfect-working, full-size model made 
of your invention. 

3. Don't spend a dollar for advertising your 
patent, for not only will advertising do you no^ 
good, but it will do you positive injury. When 
a manufacturer buys a patent for an improvement 
on the goods of his manufacture he does so to have 
some advantage over his competitors and he 
watches that acquired right with great jealousy 
so as to surprise his competitors with that improve- 
ment when competition has reached to an intolera- 
ble point. The fact that the patent is advertised 
is considered by manufacturers sufficient proof that 
the invention is worthless. A good patent for a 
desirable improvement does not require advertis- 
ing to sell it, and a shadow^ of a patent no amount 
of advertising will sell. Advertising is good to 
sell things to the general public, but not when you 
have but one patent to sell. Learn just how^ much 
of a patent you have in view of the references on 
record. If your invention has been anticipated by 
prior patents to such extent as to allow you only a 
few narrow claims, don't spend another dollar on 
it — not even the last Government fee of $20 — but 
try to dispose of the claims for whatever you can 



268 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

get for them. Submit copies of the allowed claims 
with blue-prints to some of the manufacturers of 
the article of your invention. If the claims are of 
any value to them at all, they may be willing to 
pay you one or two hundred dollars for the slight 
improvement covered by these few narrow claims; 
if not, that patent will be perfectly worthless to 
you and no amount of advertising will sell it. 
Why spend more money thereon? 

4. Don't make cuts or print circulars, or pub- 
lish your patent in any shape or manner, unless 
you intend to manufacture your invention your- 
self. When your patent is issued and embraces 
claims worth the having, have a perfect-working, 
full-size model made of your invention. If the 
invention is of such a nature that a full-size work- 
ing model is beyond your means to provide, have 
a working drawing made thereof. When your 
model or working drawing is completed secure the 
names and addresses of all the manufacturers of 
machines or articles of your invention. These ad- 
dresses you can obtain by addressing The Boyd 
N. Y. Directory Co., 13 17 Broadway, New York, 
N. Y., at a cost of a dollar or two; or you may 
be able to find a United States Manufacturers' Di- 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 269 

rectory in some newspaper office in your city, or 
through some Washington attorney. You then 
order, through j^our attorney, ten copies of your 
patent at five cents apiece — that is all a copy of a 
patent costs in the Patent Office. Write a plain 
but neat business letter to every one of the first ten 
mvanufacturers, inquiring if they would be likely to 
become interested in your invention, shown and 
described in the copy of your patent accompanying 
your letter. The illustrations and descriptions of 
your invention in your patent, if they were properly 
prepared, are a thousand times better than the 
best circular, because they carry more weight. 
Name no price for your patent in your letter, but 
tell every manufacturer you write to that if he is 
in a position to take up the manufacturing and 
m.arketing of your invention you will do yourself 
the pleasure of submitting to him your model or 
working drawing of your invention for his inspec- 
tion, upon the receipt oi his notice. Every one 
of the manufacturers who will receive your letter 
and a copy of your patent will think that he is the 
first to learn of your invention. If your invention 
possesses commercial value the manufacturers who 
are interested in your invention will answer you 



270 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM O^ PATENTS 

in a day or two, acknowledging the receipt of your 
letter and a copy of patent, and will state that they 
will consider your proposition and answer you 
within a few days. 

During the intervening days the manufacturers 
will submit the copies of your patent to their re- 
spective patent attorneys to learn how^ much of a 
patent you have before they enter into negotiation 
with you. If you have a patent, every one of them 
will return the copy of your patent and tell you 
that he is very busy at the present and therefore 
not in a position to consider your proposition. He 
will, as a matter of business tact, thank you for 
bringing your inver.tion to his notice and will close 
with a hearty wish of success with your invention ; 
but if you have thiv patent, the manufacturers will 
answer you thus: ''We are at the present very 
busy shipping orders for the goods of our manu- 
facture; we can hardly consider your proposition 
now, but as your improvement seems to possess 
some merit we might buy your patent; provided, 
however, you do not ask too much for it. You 
must understand. Dear Mr. So-and-so, that your 
invention is yet untried. It is not for you or us to 
say whether your invention is a good thing; the 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 271 

public must decide in such matters. It will take 
several thousand dollars to make the special tools, 
etc. Then again, Dear Mr. So-and-so, a patent 
i^:^. of little value until it is litigated and sustained 
by the courts, and patent litigation is very expen- 
sive. We will be glad to inspect your model, or 
working drawings, and have you name us your 
very best spot cash price for your patent right," 
etc., or something of that import. 

When you receive a few letters like this out of 
your ten letters mailed, you may be sure that you 
have a piece of property in your patent that is of 
good intrinsic vakie. You now know what you 
have and you need not hurry. Answer these let- 
ters, acknowledging receipt of same, and tell them 
that you or 3^our representative will be in their 
neighborhood shortly, and that you or he will call 
upon them personaUy with the model or working 
drawing, as the case may be, and express a hope 
that you will come to some understanding with 
them. Your next step is, if the manufacturers of 
your invention are numerous, to order another 
supply of copies of your patent and send out ten 
more personal letters, enclosing a copy of your 
patent in each. When you have five or six favora- 



2^ LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

ble answers, if you are not a thorough business 
man yourself^ or even if you are, go to your near- 
est largest city, such as New York, Chicago, Phil- 
adelphia, or San Francisco, etc., and look up a 
good ''promoter,'' not a ''patent broker," but a 
business promoter. Show him a copy of your pat- 
ent, your model or working drawings, and the 
letters of the manufacturers you have been corre- 
sponding with. If you have no such letters, no 
good promoter will listen to you at all ; the coTre- 
spondence w^ith the manufacturers, previous to see- 
ing the promoter is, therefore, of great importance. 
So many trashy patents are offered for sale and 
promotion that a real promoter will not give a pat- 
ent proposition a moment's attention. To prove 
to him that you have the real thing you must have 
the letters of the manufacturers to show; him that 
your invention possesses genuine merits, and that 
manufacturers want to buy your invention. This 
alone will secure you his attention. If patent pro- 
miotion is out of his line he will give you the name 
and address of one who is likely to take up the 
promotion of your invention. 

A promoter is usually a very busy man; after 
he has heard you he will ask you to call within 



AND IN VENTI0NS---H0W_ MADE. „ 273 

two or three hours for an answer. You must then 
take advantage of that time and learn all you can 
about your man and his integrity. You will usu- 
ally be able to learn something of him from a 
neighboring storekeeper, drug store, bank, etc. 
When you call at the appointed time your promoter 
wall advise you either tO' sell your invention for 
the best price you can get, or place it on a royalty 
with some larg-e producer, or to organize a stock 
company on the basis of your invention. A pro- 
moter's judgment is usually reliable. You should 
m.ake arrangements with him tO' handle the busi- 
ness end of your patent for you for a certain inter- 
est in the enterprise. You will then realize twice 
as much, if not more, than you could without the 
promoter. The: promoter does not ask fees in ad- 
vance under any pretence. He travels on his own 
expense. He does not advertise for purchasers 
for your patent; he goes to see them personally, 
and he knows where to find them. 

5. Don't be in a hurry to sign a contract of any 
kind. When you come to some understanding with 
'your promoter he will draw up a contract and hand 
it to you for your signature. Take the contract 
from his hand and ask him to let you take it to 



274 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

your hotel to read it before you sign it, which he 
usually will; but if he should not allow you to 
do so, simply don't sign it. Refuse to sign an 
assignment for any small interest in the patent un- 
der all circumstances. If you assign but 5 per cent, 
in your patent, you lose the control of it. Take 
that contract to some good lawyer, pay him a fee 
and ask him in these words to explain to you, the 
following points: i. Under the terms of this con- 
tract, what do I agree to do, and what does the 
other party agree to do? 2. Under the terms of 
this contract, • what is my remedy for the other 
party's non-fulfilment of conditions of this eon- 
tract, and what is the other party's remedy for 
my non-fulfilment of the conditions named therein? 
3. Under the terms of this contract, how many 
years, months or weeks have I to fulfil the condi- 
tions of this contract, and how many years, months 
or weeks has the other party to fulfil the conditions 
of this contract? 

Yes, I am aware of the fact that you can read 
a contract as good as any business man, but unless 
you are really a man of parts, and have had ample 
experience in construing contracts, take my candidv 
advice — throw away a five dellar bill and have 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 27S 

k good lawyer read your contract before you sigii 
it ; afterward will be too late. The party you enter 
into agreement with may be a good, honest, Chris- 
tian man ; but he is also a good business man, and 
as such, he will try to do himself all the good he 
can. ''Himself' is a closer friend to him than you 
are, and a man has a moral rig^it to secure all the 
advantages he can for his friend ''self.'' A pro- 
moter knows how to write a contract. You will 
read and reread that contract; it will sound to 
you perfectly equitable and reasonable, but he is 
very apt to introduce one of those mischievous lit- 
tle pronouns, a clause, or some technical hitch that 
is hardly noticeable ; but when the contract comes 
to court it may relieve him of all responsibility 
and tie you in fetters that will take considerable 
power to break. A good lawyer will detect a hitch 
if any exists, and if none exists it is well worth 
five dollars to you to know it. 

The foregoing bits of advice are based upon 
my own large and varied experience in the disposi- 
tion of my own patents. In the early days of my 
inventing career I followed the usual advice on 
the subject given by patent attorneys and in certain 
books on how to sell patents and how to make 



276 LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

money out of patents, etc., and spent large sums of 
money in advertising, models and brokers, with dis- 
tressing results. 



I will 'be pleased to receive criticism upon this 
volume, and further suggestions from its readers, 
with a view to assisting in the preparation of fu- 
ture editions. 

END 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 277 

ADVERTTISEMENTT 

It is my earnest desire to watch over the readers 
of this volume, that they may not deviate from 
the rules, laws and practices taught therein and 
thus jeopardize or impair the value of their pat- 
ents. I would therefore esteem it a great privilege 
to be called upon to assist you in the preparation 
of your case for a reasonable fee, or to- prepare, pre- 
sent and prosecute your application for patent, if 
by reason of incumbent duty you are unable to at- 
tend to this matter yourself. 

Being a registered patent attorney — a recognized 
practitioner before the United States Patent Of- 
fice — and a resident of Washington, D. C, I have 
access to all patent records and am able to make 
preliminary or validity searches with great facility 
and inspect pending applications or render you any 
other professional service you may have occasion 
for. 

I respectfully solicit recognition when occasion 
calls, assuring you that should you honor me with 
your patronage and confidence I will endeavor to 
render you the highest degree of satisfaction in 
point of skill, fees and prompt dispatch. Address 



:^7S LASOFISH'S CATECHISM OF t^A'fENTg 

CHRONOLOGY 

oE some: 01^ the: most important inventions. 

B. C. 
600 — Maps, globes and dials were invented by 

Aniximander. 
588 — Sun dials were invented in Rome. 
441 — The battering ram was invented. 
280 — Hero of Alexandria formed a toy which 

exhibited some properties oi steam. (A 

model of a type of a toy steam engine 

invented 150 B. C. is on exhibition in 

the Patent Office.) 
228 — Mirrors (silvering*) invented by Praxiteles. 
170 — Paper w^as invented in China. 
A. D. 

I — Cotton cloth was manufactured at Baroche, 

in Guzerat. 
400 — Riding saddles w^ere invented. 
402 — Bells were invented by Paulinus, Bishop of 

Nola, in Campagnia. 
481 — Horse-shoes were first made of iron. 
500 — Stirrups were invented. 
587 — Anchors were invented. 
635 — Pens were first made of quills. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 279 

674 — Glass was introduced into England by Ben- 
edict, a monk. 
750 — Organs were invented. 
887 — Books in their present form were invented 

by Attains, King of Pargamus. 
890 — Lanterns were invented by Alfred the 

Great. 
1 100 — Paper made of cotton rags was invented 
1227 — Gilding with gold leaf was invented. 
1252 — The magic lantern was invented. 
1280 — Spectacles were invented. 
1300 — Paper was made of linen. 
1330 — ^^Guns were invented and' used by the Moors 
at the siege of Aigeziras, in Spain, in 

1334. 

133! — ^^Gunpowder was invented by Schwartz. 
(Gunpowder is now known to have been 
used by the Chinese in A. D. 80.) 

1 34 1 — A cannon was used at the battle of Aige- 
ziras. 

1 35 1 — Wire was invented at Nu%enberg. 

1370 — Muskets were used. 

1380 — Musical notes, as now used, were invented. 

141 7 — Violins of the modern kind were invented. 

1423 — Engraving on mental was first invented. 



28o LABOFISH^S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

1440 — Printing was invented by Guttenberg at 
Mentz. (Faust claims that honor.) 

1477 — Watches were invented at Nu\enberg. 

1 5 12 — Etching on copper with aqua fortic was 
first invented. 

1543 — Blasco de Garay invented a steam engine 
which was exhibited before Charles V., 
at Barcelona. He employed a caldron 
of boilings water with a movable wheel 
on each side O'f the vessel. 

1544 — Pistols came into use. 

1545 — Needles were first made in England by a 
native of India. 

1550 — Knives were first made in EuQi-land. 

1564 — ^Coaches were first made in England. 

1568 — Clocks were first made in England. 

1580 — The dipping needle was invented by Robert 
Norman. 

1608 — Forks were first used in England, but it 
is known that an Italian used a fork as 
early as the fifteenth century. 

161 7 — Coining with a dye first invented and used 
in England. 

1620 — Thermometers were invented by Drebel, a 
Dutchman. 



AND INVENTIONS—HOW MADE. 281 

1 62 1 — ^^The microscope was invented in Germany. 

1634 — Bombs were used by the French army. 

1650 — ^^A railroad was constructed at Newcastle 

on Tyne. 

1650 — Air pumps were invented. 

1655 — The Marquis of Worcester invented a steam 

enp-ine. 

V 

1656 — Guhr, of Nu\enberg, invented an air-gun. 
1670 — Bayonets were invented in Bayonne 

(whence the name). 
1 68 1 — Denis Papin invented a steam engine. 
1687 — A mechanical telegraph was invented in 

France. 
1690 — Art of calico printing was introduced in 

England. 
1693 — Bayonets were first brought into use at the 

battle of Turin. 
1698 — Captain Savary invented an engine for rais- 
ing water. 
1710 — Newcomers steam and atmospheric engine 

was invented. 
1 718 — Captain Savary invented an engine for 

dragging rivers and raising water. 
17^5 — Stereotype printing was invented. 
1729 — Air-balloons invented by Gusmac, a Jesuit. 



2S2 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

1730^ — Mr. Wyatt spun cotton yarn in England 
by machinery. 

1735 — Stereotype printing invented by William 
Gid, a goldsmith. 

1736 — Jonathan Hulls obtained a patent for the 
invention of a steamboat. 

1738 — The mode of spinning cotton by rollers was 
improved by John Wyatt and a patent 
was taken out therefor by Lewis Paul, 
his partner. 

1742 — The first horse-power spinning mill was 
erected at Birmingham. 

1745 — The Leyden jar was invented. 

1749 — The fly shuttle was in general use. 

1752 — The new calendar was introduced. 

1752 — The lightning rod was first used by Ben- 
jamin Franklin. 

1756 — Cotton velvets and quilting was made in 
England. 

1757 — Daniel Bernouilli proposed the employment 
of steam in navigation. 

1760 — ^Gautiier, Canon of Nancy, adopted and im- 
proved on Bernouilli's plan of steam nav- 
igation. 



AND INVENTIONS— HOW MADE. 283 

1 761 — Arkwright obtained the first patent for the 
spinning frame. 

1764 — ^James Watt perfected a steam engine in 
England. 

1768 — The stocking frame was appHed by Ham- 
mond to making lace. 

1772 — Oliver Evans invented a steanii engine, the 
first in America. 

1774 — Compte D'Auxiron projected a scheme for 
* propelling vessels by steam. 

1775 — Perier, his former assistant, improved on 
his plan. 

1775 — The sewing machine was first patented in 
England. 

1778 — The first machinery to spin cotton was put 
in operation in France. 

1778 — A'larcjuis de Jouffroy experimented with a 
steamboat on the Soane at Lyons, 

1778 — Thomas Paine proposed to Congress the 
appKcation of steam to navigation. 

1779 — The mule jenny was invented by Hargrave; 
mule spinning by Crompton. 

1.782 — Air-balloons and aerostation were invented 
in France. 

1785 — Tlie power loom was invented by Dr. Cart- 
wright. 



284 LABOFISH'S CATECHISM OF PATENTS 

1785 — John Fitch was the first to make a steam- 
boat on a reduced plan. 

1786 — James Rumsey invented a vSteannboat. 

1787 — Patrick Miller invented a steamboat. 

1792 — Eli Whitney, an American, inyented the 
cotton gin. 

1794 — ^Sewing cotton was made by Mr. Slater at 
Pawtucket, R. I. 

1795 — Earl Stanhope invented a steamboat. 

1796 — Edward Thompson invented a fire ship 
driven by a steami engine. 

1797 — The first steamer on the Hudson was built 
by Livingston. 

1802 — Lifeboats were invented by Greathead. 

1802 — Photographs were first produced in Eng- 
land. 

1802 — Trevethick introduced the high pressure en- 
gine. 

1804 — Wolf's double cylinder expansion engine 
was constructed. 

1806 — Manufactories were warmed by steam. 

181 1 — John Burns invented and patented ma- 
chinery to make bobbin lace. 

1 8 14 — The streets of London were lighted by gas. 



AND INVE'NTIONS— HOW MADE. 285 

1 81 8 — Mr. Holt invented a new method of pre- 
paring sewing cotton. 

1825 — The first passenger raih'oad was opened in 
England. 

1826-Robers invented the self-acting mule spinner. 

1828 — The first passenger railroad in America 
(B. & O.) 

T829 — Friction matches were first used. 

1830^ — Mr. Dyer introduced a machine for mak- 
ing cards. 

1832 — A new throstle frame was invented by R. 
Montgomery. 

1834 — Jackson patented his new and improved 
spindle. 

1839 — Envelopes for letters were first used. 

1844 — Elias Howe patented a complete sewing 
machine. 

1852 — Stephen R. Parkhurst invented a new cot- 
ton gin. 

1874 — The electric light was first invented in Lon- 
don, by two Russians. 

1877 — Phonographs were invented by T. A. Edi- 
son. 

1878 — Edison began his experiments in electric 
lighting. 



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